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News > Chile

Chilean Senate Backs Gradual Reduction Of Weekly Work Hours

  • Chilean Senate in Valparaiso, March 21, 2023.

    Chilean Senate in Valparaiso, March 21, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @ucvradio

Published 22 March 2023
Opinion

"This bill aims to reconcile working hours with rest time. There is less and less left for it to become law!,” Chile’s General Secretary Minister Camila Vallejo said. 

On Tuesday, the Chilean Senate unanimously approved a bill that gradually reduces the weekly working hours from 45 to 40.

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"This bill aims to reconcile working hours with rest time. There is less and less left for it to become law!,” Secretary Minister Camila Vallejo pointed out.

This initiative proposes to reduce the working hours per week to 44 in the first year of the law’s approval, to 42 in the third year of its endorsement, and 40 hours once five years have passed since its adoption.

The Chilean Communist Party first presented this bill to Parliament in 2017, but the bill did not pass the first parliamentary discussions on that occasion.

President Gabriel Boric introduced some changes to the initial project, which did not establish that the work hours' reduction was gradual, and asked the Parliament to analyze it again.

Chilean trade unions and employers overwhelmingly welcomed the bill, which will have to be approved by the Lower House in the coming weeks to become law. This initiative sets an exception for Latin America, where the average weekly working hours is 48.

"We hope that workers can have their weekly working hours reduction bill converted into law by May 1 to celebrate the International Workers' Day with great news,” Labor Minister Jeannette Jara stated.

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