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

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

Article 2 of the Convention. Homeworkers. 1. Section 22 of the Labour Code excludes from the limit on working hours, among others, persons who work at home or in a place of their choice. The Committee reminds the Government that the exceptions allowed by Article 2 of the Convention are exhaustive and do not include these categories of workers. It requests the Government to indicate the measures envisaged to ensure that the working hours of these workers do not exceed eight hours a day and 48 hours a week.

2. Part-time work. Act No. 19.759 introduced into the Labour Code rules on part-time work, which is defined in section 40bis as work that does not exceed two-thirds of the normal working hours. However, section 40bis A provides that the normal working day of part-time workers shall not exceed ten hours. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure compliance with Article 2(b) of the Convention, which sets a limit of nine hours for the normal working day. Under section 40bis C, the parties may agree to alternative ways of distributing working hours, and the employer may then choose among them. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on these various arrangements and on the measures taken to ensure that they comply with the daily and weekly limits on normal working hours.

Article 5. 1. Monthly accounting of working hours. Section 25 of the Labour Code provides for monthly accounting of the working hours of drivers and auxiliaries employed in inter-city transport services and on railways, the monthly hours of work being 180 hours. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that an agreement between workers’ and employers’ organizations is required in order to distribute working hours over a period longer than one week. It accordingly asks the Government to indicate whether an agreement has been concluded to count the working hours of the above categories of workers on a monthly basis.

2. Exceptional systems. The Director of Labour Administration may, in specific cases and with the agreement of the workers concerned, establish exceptional systems for the distribution of working hours and rest periods by a substantiated decision, the validity of which may not exceed four years (section 38 of the Labour Code). The Committee requests the Government to indicate the daily and weekly limits that apply in these exceptional systems. The Government is also requested to provide copies of any decisions of this kind adopted by the Director of Labour Administration.

3. Work outside urban centres. Pursuant to section 39 of the Labour Code, where work is carried on outside urban centres, the parties may agree to normal working hours being spread over uninterrupted two-week periods, provided that compensatory rest days are granted for Sundays and holidays that are worked. The Committee recalls that Article 5 of the Convention which enables modification to the daily limit of work over a longer period than one week, is limited to exceptional cases, in which it is recognized that such limits on working hours cannot be applied. The Committee considers that the fact that work is performed outside urban centres may not in itself amount to being an exceptional case within Article 5. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of this provision in practice and to specify whether the agreements referred to ensure compliance with the 48-hour limit on average weekly working time.

Article 6. Ministries and public services. Act No. 18.834 issuing the Administration Regulations sets rules on the hours of work of the staff of ministries and public services, the latter being excluded from the scope of the Labour Code by section 1 of the Code. Section 60 of the abovementioned Act provides that the competent authorities may require overtime to be performed where the tasks to be accomplished cannot be postponed. The Committee requests the Government to provide examples of cases in which the administrative authorities have used this provision. The Government is also asked to indicate the maximum amount of overtime that may be required in each case.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the statistical information supplied by the Government on average working hours. It nevertheless asks the Government to provide all relevant particulars as to the number of workers who are subject to unequal distribution of working hours over the week.

Bill to amend the Labour Code. The Committee notes that the Government has submitted to Parliament a bill to amend the Labour Code, among other things to secure greater flexibility in working hours. As the Government indicates in Message No. 136-343, appended to its report, the bill aims to transfer authority from the law to collective agreements. Thus, an employer and a trade union could, with the agreement of the majority of the workers concerned, conclude an agreement to place working hours on a monthly basis, allowing normal monthly working time to amount to a maximum of 186 hours and monthly overtime to amount to a maximum of 30 hours. This would bring maximum daily working time up to 12 hours. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that such provisions could be contrary to the Convention, particularly Article 2. It requests the Government to provide all relevant information on Parliament’s examination of the bill and the implications that its adoption could have for the application of the Convention.