Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Chile (Ratification: 1925)

Article 2(b) of the Convention. Normal working hours. The Committee notes with interest that, following the adoption of Act No. 19.759 of 27 September 2001 amending the Labour Code, normal weekly working hours have been reduced from 48 to 45 with effect from 1 January 2005 (section 22, as amended, of the Labour Code). The Committee notes with regret, however, that the Government did not take the opportunity at the same time to amend section 28 of the Labour Code to bring it into line with Article 2(b) of the Convention. Although the normal working week of 45 hours amounts to nine hours a day for a working week of five days, where hours of work are unevenly distributed the nine-hour limit may be exceeded since section 28 sets a maximum working day of ten hours. The Committee is therefore bound to request once again the Government to take the necessary steps to prevent the daily limit of nine hours from being exceeded, in accordance with Article 2(b) of the Convention.

Article 6. 1. Overtime. Section 31 of the Labour Code still allows parties to agree to overtime of up to two hours a day in jobs which, by their nature, do not harm the health of the workers. Act No. 19.759 has placed a limit on the cases in which recourse to overtime is allowed (section 32, as amended). For overtime to be allowed, there must now be a "need or temporary situation prevailing in the enterprise". These terms are defined by section 4 of Circular 0332/0023 of 30 January 2002 as non-permanent circumstances in which the productive activity of the enterprise is carried out, which are the result of occasional occurrences or factors that cannot be avoided, and which generate excess work for a given period. The Committee requests the Government to provide more specific information on the circumstances in which such agreements may be concluded, given that Article 6, paragraph 1(b), of the Convention allows temporary exceptions to normal working hours only to enable enterprises to deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work and on condition that the employer cannot ordinarily be expected to resort to other measures.

2. Renewal of collective agreements. Although agreements for the performance of overtime may not initially be for more than three months, they may be renewed, under section 32 of the Labour Code, where the circumstances that led to their need persist. The Labour Code establishes only a daily limit to authorized overtime. As already pointed out by the Committee, if not accompanied by a reasonable annual limit, a daily limit of two hours’ overtime could give rise to abuse. Consequently, the Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to establish in advance, the maximum amount of overtime that may be authorized per year. The Government is also asked to provide copies of collective agreements, if any, establishing overtime arrangements.

The Committee raises other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.