A strong impact has caused the Labor reform bill that in the past few days was presented by the Current government, as far as — beyond the reference to other subjects that are not generally modified — this project aims to be unaware of the basic rights of limiting the working day and rest times. This is done through the legal system making possible the conclusion of agreements that allow the denial of the right, after supposed benefits of individual character for the worker, pretending that there would be a negotiation and not an imposition of the party that Has the power; I mean, the employer.
With the possibility of these agreements, the companies could have the times of work and rests without meeting the legal limitations that until today establishes the right of the work, founding that availability in supposed agreements that in most of the Cases will have been the result of impositions.
Certainly the impact of the presentation of this project is deepened by the choice of the chosen date: One day after the celebration of the International Workers ‘ Day, the origin of which is precisely the demand of the workers of The necessary limitation of the working time and the guarantee of the rests based on the integrality of the human being.
This claim has been achieved through legal norms that have had this objective, establishing minimum rights of an inalienable nature, such as the daily Day that cannot exceed a certain number of hours — in Chile it only reaches a Maximum of 10 hours, in circumstances that in many others the maximum is 8 hours — the weekly day must not exceed a certain number of hours — in Chile it is 45 hours — that one day of the week must be common rest for all people , except for exceptional cases and that in Chile’s majority culture should be on Sunday — which is also questionable in Chile, given the exception of trade workers — or that overtime only proceed for very special cause, such as the need Temporary of the company — which in Chile was only established by the reform of Law 19,759, of 2001 —.
Today’s society, as well as the international community and the various States, claims these minimum rights, as long as every worker and all workers must be guaranteed a job whose remuneration allows them to live in dignity and whose extension Of time is limited in order to make it possible to develop the different dimensions of life.
But the bill presented on May 2 does not know this integrality of the human being and seeks to generalise the availability of working times to the specific requirements that companies are having, establishing among other measures the days of Work in monthly computation (the weekly days could reach more than sixty hours), daily days exceeding ten hours, extraordinary days without foundation of the exceptionality of its origin, and also changes the system of rest in Sunday of the workers permanently exempted from Sunday rest, allowing their concentration in certain periods.
And to implement these measures, the individual agreement between worker and employer is referred to, assuming that between these two subjects there would be a negotiation and that the agreement would understand the interests of the worker. What is farther from the Chilean reality, since a high percentage of the workers only have the minimum rights defined by the law in force, and if these minimums are disappearing only the will of the employer is imposed.
It is true that many of the possible working conditions that can be produced with the reform already exist in reality, such as the extensive working days. This is because of the real inability of the worker to oppose such a situation and because there is no union in that company. This does not remove the fact that it is illegal today and that it would be a labour infringement, and therefore it would be punishable by the respective labour inspectorate. Well, if this reform were to be approved, such a situation would no longer constitute an illegality, as companies could exhibit alleged workers ‘ acceptance agreements on such conditions.
But the deregulatory measures do not stop at the instrument that resorts to individual autonomy. In addition, it extends the occurrence of collective agreements on matters of days and rests, as is the origin of exceptional systems of days and rests, which would be established through negotiations with some collective subjects, of which Its representativeness is doubtful, both of the workers and of the collective interest, as presented with the negotiating groups. Also, by legal mandate is incorporated a particular contract of labor availability — the “formalization” — and, in addition, the character of working day is removed at the time of “preparation for work”, as is the change of wardrobe.
It must be recognized that this bill responds to a business demand that has been introduced for decades, and that it is neither more nor less than the ‘ flexibility ‘ of working times. And this solution is nothing less than the availability of labour rights, through individual false negotiations; Thus imposing the working conditions as they existed in the Chile of the NINETEENTH century. It is the return to the origins, when there were no minimum rights.
The content poured in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of the counter.
