30 DE AGOSTO DE 2016

[ARCHIVO] President Bachelet enacts law to modernize Chile’s labor relations system

In the Las Camelias Patio of La Moneda Palace, the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, along with the Labor and Social Security Minister, Ximena Rincón, and the Finance Minister, Rodrigo Valdés, enacted Law No. 20.940, which modernizes Chile’s labor relations system. “I would like to express my thanks to the workers’ organizations for their role in this debate and also to the Congressmen who facilitated its approval in Congress, especially those who chaired the Labor Committees in both chambers during its processing: Deputies Tucapel Jiménez and Lautaro Carmona, and Senators Juan Pablo Letelier and Adriana Muñoz”, the President said at the start of her speech.

The new law extends the coverage of and the matters included in collective bargaining and it also enshrines the floor for negotiations. It gives autonomy to companies and unions to agree special working conditions. It regulates the unions’ right to information and simplifies the regulation of and procedure for collective bargaining. It recognizes effective striking and prohibits the replacement of striking workers as a right of collective action. It guarantees women’s representation on the boards of unions and it also recognizes inter-company unions and the possibility of them negotiating.

President Bachelet emphasized that ”this labor reform is not everything the Executive proposed and the Congress has approved it by a broad majority. We aspired to more because we feel that inequalities persist in labor relations that must be corrected and one way of doing this is by strengthening unions. All in all, this law is continues to be a significant step forward for labor relations”.

At the end of her speech, the President listed all the labor-related laws that have been enacted over the last two and a half years of her Government administration in regard to employment. These include the workplace health and safety policy, legislation on the working hours of domestic workers, on the lunchbreak of port workers, on the working conditions of railroad workers, legislation to make Sunday a day of rest for all who work in stores and to address the labor conditions of those who work in tourism. Other laws include the eradication of the bad practice of creating multiple company tax ID numbers and the law on lactation breaks, among many others. “It is important that Chile talks and cares about the number of jobs that it generates but it is equally important to talk about the quality of the work it creates. And all the laws we have passed in the last two and a half years have been targeted at the heart of both objectives: the creation of more jobs and ensuring that employment is a synonym for dignity and respect” said the President.