Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30) - Chile (Ratification: 1935)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its reports, which were received by the Office on 16 January and 13 November 1989 and include replies to its previous comments.

In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government on several occasions to take the necessary measures to amend section 36 of Legislative Decree No. 2200 of 1978 (as amended by Act No. 18018 of 1981 and by Act No. 18372 of 1984) so as to authorise overtime by workers in commerce only through regulations issued after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations.

The Committee also referred to section 42 of Legislative Decree No. 2200 (as amended), which permitted the parties to agree to work two additional hours in the day in jobs which, by their nature, do not harm the health of the worker. Furthermore, by virtue of section 43(2) of the same Legislative Decree, working hours that exceed the normal working week, of which the employer is aware, were authorised as overtime hours, even in the absence of a written agreement.

The Committee notes that the new Labour Code (Act No. 18-620 of 6 July 1987), section 454 of which repeals the above Legislative Decree No. 2200, does not change the previous situation. It is therefore bound to point out that exceptions to normal working hours are only permitted in the cases laid down in Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2, and that the maximum number of additional hours of work which may be allowed must be determined in the day in respect of permanent exceptions and yearly as regards temporary exceptions (Article 7, paragraph 3). Furthermore, these exceptions must be determined after consultation with the workers' and employers' organisations concerned (Article 8).

The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring its legislation into full conformity with the Convention on these various points.