Chile: Senate Labour Committee approves draft legislation lowering working time

On 29 January, Chile’s Upper House Labour Committee approved, by four votes to one, a piece of draft legislation under general review that looks to reduce the weekly working week from 45 hours down to 40. Submitted to parliament by two Communist Party members in 2017, the text has seen a resurgence in interest both by the house and in society at large, thanks to the efforts of vigorous social mobilization. Backed by majority public opinion, and advocated by the parliamentary opposition, the issue has been under intense negotiations with Sebastián Piñera’s government and several economic sectors. Parliament’s deputies approved the draft bill in November 2019, and now the Senate Labour Committee must vote upon it, legal article by legal article, before it passes to a Senate plenary session.