Reduction of working hours will be gradual
The new law, which must be promulgated by Boric, will be implemented gradually. Within a year the working day will be 44 hours, it will decrease to 42 in the third year of application and to 40 hours after five years..
“It’s good for many families. I’m just 60 years old and I’m making a family life. I’m going to get home early to enjoy the grandchildren,” said Julio Arancibia, a municipal gardener.
According to the regulations, employers will not be able to cut workers’ wages and both parties will be able to negotiate a week of four days of work and three days off.
“There are many hours that people lose on the journeys. It is one more hour in the rest house with the family,” he points out to the AFP Solange Alvear, 50 years old and microentrepreneur.
It will not bring benefits to the informal sector
However, this benefit will not reach informal work, which in Chili reaches 27.3%.
“It does not affect us much (the new law). We work the same hours we have (currently). I know that it will not benefit us.”lamented Patricia Paillacan, a 41-year-old waitress.
In addition, the approval could imply excessive flexibility of the work week through negotiations between employers and workers, said economist Gonzalo Durán, from the Fundación Sol, a labor think tank.
“What this project does is deepen the room for maneuver that the business community has by allowing (…) this kind of adaptability pacts between the workers to extend the working day” beyond the 40 hours provided by law , told Radio University of Chili.