The Chilean Senate approved the shortening of the working day to 40 hours

He Senate The Chilean government unanimously approved this Tuesday a pioneering project in the region that seeks to reduce 45 to 40 hours on weekdays and which still has to face a final vote in parliament to become law.

“There is less and less left for it to become law! Today, the Senate unanimously approved 40 hours, a project that we presented in 2017 with Deputy Karol Cariola and that makes working hours more compatible with rest time,” the official spokesman and former communist deputy said on Twitter. Camila Vallejo.

With 45 votes in favor and none against, the plenary session High camera approved the initiative, which has great support from citizens and the approval of both unions and employers.

The bill has yet to pass a final vote on Chamber of Deputies and deputies in the coming weeks before it becomes law.

We hope that on May 1, the 40-hour working time for workers will be introduced into the law, said the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare. Jeanette Jara.

The initiative proposes an initial reduction from 45 to 44 working hours per week during the first year of the law.

The second reduction will be to 42 hours from the third year, while the target of 40 hours will be reached in the fifth year.

The initial project was presented in 2017 communist party -one of the political formations with which President Gabrijel Borić rules- but faced many complications during his first parliamentary debates.

The forward-thinking president, who made some changes in the initial project such as gradualism, gave it new momentum last year and in August asked the Parliament to process it “urgently”.

If it was finally approved in the last procedure, Chile would become an exception in the region, where the working day in most countries 48 hours a week.