Chile Approves Bill To Cut Work Week From 45 Hours To 40

Chile's Congress has just passed a bill to gradually reduce the work week from 45 hours to 40 hours.

What’s going on:

Chile’s Congress has just passed a hard-fought bill to gradually reduce the work week from 45 hours to 40 hours. This small victory for Chile’s current administration signifies a shift away from the country’s free-market constitution.

The new law requires one less hour of work per week annually until the work week is at 40 hours, bringing Chile in line with most industrialized countries, according to Reuters.

Why it matters:

With an astounding majority of 127 votes in favor and only 14 against, the bill has been met with overwhelming support and arrives at a time when Britain and Spain have started experimenting with cutting weekly work hours even further.

Consequently, a number of Chilean companies have already declared that they will be enacting the bill.

How it’ll impact the future:

Jeannette Jara, the Minister of Labor, addressed the outcry from certain small-scale companies who claimed that they lacked the resources necessary to hire new personnel and replace lost hours.

With the aim of furthering worker’s rights, Jara said that the gradual implementation of the new law was devised to tackle this.