Government: the important achievements in labor matters

Minimum salary of 500 thousand pesos, reduction of working hours to 40 hours and a law that reconciles work, family and personal life was highlighted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Also the strengthening of legislation against harassment and violence in the workplace, the expansion of the number of beneficiaries of the PGU, the improvements to Unemployment Insurance and the Sanna Law, initiatives dispatched from the National Congress in this period. Minister Jeannette Jara pointed out that “our main challenge for this year is to be able to fulfill a demand so desired by citizens and that is for pensions to rise.”

Santiago. 11/3/2024. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported on the legislative achievements during the first two years of the Government of President Gabriel Boric.

Among the laws processed are the reduction of the working day from 45 to 40 hours per week; the gradual increase in the minimum wage to 500 thousand pesos; the increase in the beneficiaries of the PGU and the law that modifies the Labor Code regarding prevention, investigation and punishment of workplace, sexual harassment and violence at work, better known as “Karin Law”, among others.

The Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Jeannette Jara, valued the projects promoted by the portfolio and that were approved by the National Congress, pointing out that they aim to improve the quality of life of the country’s workers and pensioners.

“In the labor and pension sphere we have had positive advances built on the basis of agreements between employers, workers and the Government, under the model of tripartite social dialogue.”

He highlighted the process surrounding the law that strengthens Unemployment Insurance, Convention 190 to prevent harassment and violence in the world of work and also the law that implements an important part of this Convention known as the Karin Law, in tribute to a TENS who suffered abuse and harassment at work.

Jara added that “we are going to continue along the same path that we have been traveling with projects such as the Reconciliation of personal, family and work life, to allow hybrid work in companies where the function allows it, and strengthening occupational health and safety through the approval of ILO Convention 176 on mining. In pension matters, we are moving forward with the short PGU Law, which has allowed more than 70 thousand people to be able to join this state benefit.”

“But our main challenge for this year is to be able to realize a demand so desired by citizens and that is for pensions to rise, for which the President has ordered us to carry out the entire political dialogue with the opposition in order to be able to build an agreement on the pension reform,” he said.

In total, there are 22 initiatives dispatched from Congress, in these two years, in which the Ministry of Labor and Social Security had influence.

Decent job

The Ministry of Labor and Welfare also reported that job creation is being promoted under the Decent Work standards defined by the ILO. The purpose is that people can access productive employment with a fair income, respect for individual and collective rights, access to training and social protection and guarantee of a safe work environment.

From this perspective, the measures promoted by the portfolio have allowed significant progress in improving working conditions and guaranteeing rights for workers. An example is the law that reduces the working day from 45 to 40 hours per week. The initiative, originated in a parliamentary motion by the now Minister of Segegob, Camila Vallejo, and Deputy Karol Cariola, was approved in 2023 after being indicated by the Executive.

This law, which will be implemented gradually over five years, seeks the effective reduction of the working day for all workers covered by the Labor Code, considering the specificities of the different productive sectors. In addition, it contemplates time bands that allow mothers and fathers with children under 12 years of age to defer entry and exit from work, and also for the person in charge of the personal care of the latter, so that they can adapt the work day. with school schedules, for example. The first reduction of one hour will take place in 2024.

Likewise, in 2023 the gradual increase in the minimum wage to $500,000 was approved, an amount that will be reached as of July 1 of this year and will impact around 800,000 workers. The increase, which entails a subsidy for micro and small businesses, is intended to mitigate the effects of the loss of purchasing power caused by high inflation and contribute to the objective of ensuring that there are no salaried workers who are below the minimum wage. poverty line. This was accompanied by a 4.3% readjustment to the public sector.

Along the same lines of decent work, other initiatives approved are, on the one hand, the law that extended work leave for workers from three to four days due to the death of a father or mother, and incorporated equal leave in the event of the death of a brother. or sister; and the law that strengthens the Insurance for the Accompaniment of Girls and Boys (Sanna), which expanded the days of leave, from 90 to 180, and added coverage for a new contingency, which is the serious illness of children under 4 years of age. requiring hospitalization in the ICU or ICU.

Another initiative was the ratification of ILO Convention 176, on safety and health in mining, which is a very important sector in our economy and which, due to the particularity of its work and the risks involved, requires high safety standards.

Employability

Within a framework of fiscal responsibility, which complements the monetary policy of the Central Bank to control inflation, the Government of President Gabriel Boric has promoted measures to boost investment and improve people’s employability. As far as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is concerned, last year it promoted the law that strengthens Unemployment Insurance by making its requirements more flexible and improving its benefits. In addition, this rule allows the financing of labor intermediation programs using up to 2% of the resources of the Solidarity Unemployment Fund, which at current value is equivalent to nearly $50,000 million.

On the other hand, the law that strengthens ChileValora establishes the possibility of incorporating offices of that institution in the regions, with the aim of strengthening the link of certification with the specific demands for human capital development and the productive challenges of each territory. Likewise, an asymmetry is corrected by equating the conditions of use of the tax exemption with respect to training. Furthermore, key to the strengthening of ChileValora is the fact that a permanent financing standard is established via the Budget Law for the public sector, providing the entity with greater autonomy.

Gender perspective

Last year, important initiatives were carried out to improve women’s working conditions. Firstly, ILO Convention 190 was ratified, which seeks to eradicate violence and harassment from work spaces, with which the State of Chile undertakes to adapt its legislation to said international treaty; guarantee access to avenues of appeal and reparation, as well as mechanisms and procedures for notification and conflict resolution.

Likewise, and within the framework of Convention 190, the law was approved that modifies the Labor Code regarding prevention, investigation and punishment of workplace, sexual harassment and violence at work, better known as the Karin Law.

In addition, Parliament endorsed the law on the Reconciliation of Work, Family and Personal Life, which makes remote work or hybrid work possible for workers in charge of caring for a boy or girl under 14 years of age or an adolescent under 18. years with a disability or in a situation of dependency, and gives priority when requesting the legal holiday. There are more than 360,000 fathers and mothers who will be able to agree with their employers on a hybrid work modality.

More social protection

In January of this year, the Chamber of Deputies sent the pension reform presented by the Government of President Gabriel Boric to the Senate, managing to advance its processing. In addition to strengthening individual savings, the initiative creates Social Security with the objective of increasing the amount of pensions for current retirees and also for future retirees, with a guarantee of 0.1 UF per year of contributions. Likewise, the project establishes a reorganization of the pension industry, ending the AFPs and incorporating new private actors in the investment of savings. It also proposes increasing the PGU to 250,000 pesos and universalizing the benefit.

With the objective of expanding the number of beneficiaries of the Universal Guaranteed Pension (PGU), with the Short Law of the PGU it was possible to go from the most vulnerable 90% of the population over 65 years of age to the most vulnerable 90% of the total population. With this change, issued in January 2023, nearly 70,000 older adults who, initially, did not qualify for the benefit, benefited.

Economic security

In March of last year, the bill that promoted Economic Security Measures was sent from Congress. The initiative included the extraordinary delivery of a second installment of the Permanent Family Contribution, also known as “ex-March Bonus”, which amounted to 60,000 pesos, and whose objective was to support families in months when the economic burden increased. In this way, the benefit totaled 120,000 pesos.

The amount of the Family Allowance (AF) and the Single Family Subsidy (SUF) was also increased by 20% permanently, benefiting more than 3 million people, belonging to 1.5 million households, which was added the automation of the SUF in order to advance in reaching more than 900 thousand children and adolescents belonging to the most vulnerable 40% of the population.

The “Electronic Family Pocket” was also created, which consisted of financial support of 13,500 pesos per month per load, operating from the RUT Account of the beneficiaries, covering a part (20%) or the total value of the purchases made in any business in the food sector that includes electronic means of payment, throughout the country.