Chile clears the way for 40-hour work week
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Lawmakers in Chile have approved legislation to reduce the country's working week hours from 45 to 40, reported German news agency dpa.
Left-wing President Gabriel Boric will sign the bill into law in the coming days, a government statement said late Tuesday.
This will make Chile the second country in South America, after Ecuador, to introduce the working hours recommended by the International Labour Organisation.
"Today we can finally celebrate the approval of this project that reduces working hours - a pro-family project that aims at the good living of all," Boric wrote on Twitter.
The original legislative initiative had been introduced in 2017 by current Cabinet member Camila Vallejo and lawmaker Karol Cariola of the Communist Party.
Workers' rights are a key pillar of the programme with which Boric, 37, took office as the South American country's youngest-ever president on March 11, 2022. - BERNAMA
