Legislating Leisure

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Chilean lawmakers passed a bill this week that would reduce the country’s working week from 45 hours to 40, in an effort to improve the quality of life of workers in the South American nation, Al Jazeera reported.

The new legislation will incrementally lower the working week over five years until the country reaches the 40-hour cap – already standard in many industrialized nations.

It will also prevent businesses from lowering salaries because of the change and allow workers to switch to a four-day working week. The measures, however, do not apply to the informal sectors of the economy, which cover more than 25 percent of Chile’s workforce.

While some businesses welcomed the bill, others criticized it, saying the initiative would put them under strain as they adapt to the changes.

President Gabriel Boric – who is expected to sign the bill into law – hailed it as a “pro-family project that aims at the good living of all.”

Analysts noted that the work week reform marks a legislative win for Boric, who campaigned on a left-wing platform promising to improve workers’ rights, fight inequality and promote social justice.

However, some of Boric’s broader aspirations, such as replacing the country’s neoliberal constitution inherited from the right-wing dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and making significant revisions to the tax code, have met with stronger opposition.