Boric: “Working 40 hours a week brings us closer to a new Chile”

The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, described the reduction of the working day to 40 hours a week, approved this Tuesday by Parliament, as “essential” to bring the country closer to “a new Chile.”

“The mandate of our Government is to move towards greater justice and I have no doubt that improvements such as 40 hours are essential to bring us closer to a new Chile, one more just and a fuller life. We move forward!”, claimed the president through his Twitter account, shortly after the historic vote.

Boric remarked that the new standard had been around for many years “adding support and dialogue” between different formations and defended it as an initiative to improve the quality of life of Chileans: “Today we can finally celebrate the approval of this project that reduces the working day, a pro-family project that aims at the good living of all“, said.

“I am delighted and deeply proud that we are part of this historic process”, he celebrated.

The Chilean Parliament approved this Tuesday to reduce the working week from 45 to 40 hours, with the majority of the parties voting in favor, with the exception of the far-right Republican Party.

The law, which could be promulgated on May 1 on the occasion of Labor Day, has great citizen support and the approval of both unions and business employers.

The measure proposes an initial reduction from 45 to 44 working hours a week during the first year of the law, while the second reduction will be up to 42 hours from the third year and the goal of 40 hours will be reached in the fifth.

Chile thus becomes the third country in the region, after Ecuador and Venezuela, to establish a 40-hour work week, an exception in the region, where most countries have 48-hour work weeks.

The initial project was presented in 2017 by the Communist Party – one of the political formations with which Boric governs – but faced many complications during its first parliamentary discussions.

Source: EFE