Bill Reducing Work Week To 40 Hours Approved By Chilean Congress

In an effort to enhance the standard of living and rights of workers in the South American nation of Chile, legislators have enacted a bill cutting the workweek from 45 to 40 hours.

The legislation was approved by the Senate several weeks ago in an anonymous vote, and it was then approved by the lower house of the Chilean Congress on Tuesday, Apr. 11, by a vote of 127 to 14.

In a tweet, Chile's left-leaning President Gabriel Boric praised the plan as a "pro-family project that aims at the good living of all" and indicated that he might sign it into law.

"This is a project that will contribute enormously to our quality of life," said Labor Minister Jeannette Jara. "Yes, changes can be made to advance workers' rights."

With the passage of the bill, Boric, who was elected on a left-wing platform pledging to advance workers' rights, fight injustice, and advance social justice, has gained a legislative victory, Al Jazeera reported.

However, some of Boric's more ambitious plans, like overhauling the nation's neoliberal constitution that was left over from the time of right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet and significantly altering the tax law, have encountered obstacles.

Tuesday's law incrementally lowers the work week over the course of five years until the country reaches 40 hours, the standard in many industrialized nations.

However, Latin America has some of the world's longest workweeks, averaging 48 hours in places like Peru, Argentina, Mexico, and Panama and 44 hours in Brazil.

The South American nation of Ecuador, though, has a 40-hour work week.

Longer work weeks also do not necessarily mean enhanced productivity: France has a 35-hour work week and has some of the most productive workers of all the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Shorter work weeks have also been experimented with in other nations, with one of the biggest trials coming to an end in the UK earlier this year. The trial, which involved 61 businesses, discovered that four-day work weeks reduced employee stress while having minimal effect on sales.

The majority of the 61 companies made the decision to keep using the technique once the trial was over.

Chile's bill from Tuesday forbids employers from cutting wages as a result of the move and permits employees to switch to a four-day work week.

According to the news agency AFP, it does not apply to Chile's informal sector, which employs more than a quarter of the nation's workers.

The plan has drawn criticism from some businesses who claim they will be put under pressure as they try to adapt, but others have praised it.

Owner of the design firm Organic Style, Danitza Becerra, told Reuters that her business made the changeover to a 40-hour work week years ago and that it has been successful.