Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

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

The Committee notes the Government's statement in reply to a comment from a trade union alleging that the Convention is not applied, to the effect that the dialogue on the application of the Convention is being pursued with the Committee of Experts. The Committee regrets to note, however, that the Government has provided neither a report nor a reply to its observation of 1990.

Article 2(b) of the Convention. In its previous observation, the Committee pointed out that the text of the new Labour Code of 1987 had not changed the situation on which it had been commenting for many years.

The Code establishes a working week of 48 hours (section 23) and an ordinary working day of a maximum of ten hours (section 27).

The Committee noted in this connection that the division of the working week into five working days of nine hours and 36 minutes is offset by an additional rest day. The Committee none the less considered that this was at variance with Article 2(b) of the Convention.

The Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the daily limit of nine hours laid down in Article 2(b) of the Convention is not exceeded.

Article 6. The Committee pointed out that sections 30 and 31 of the Labour Code permit up to two hours overtime per day in certain jobs and that, under section 31(2), the hours worked in excess of the established working hours are considered as overtime, the employer alone being aware of them, and considered that these provisions were contrary to those of the Convention. Article 6(1)(b) of the Convention lays down that temporary exceptions to normal working hours may be permitted only to allow establishments to deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work, and article 6(2) lays down that the maximum number of additional hours that may be authorized must be fixed in advance.

The Committee again asks the Government to take the necessary measures so as to permit exceptions to normal working hours only in the cases set out in the Convention and to fix in advance the maximum number of additional hours that may be authorized. It recalls that a limit of two additional hours per day without a reasonable annual limit could give rise to abuses and would be definitely contrary to the spirit in which the Convention was formulated.

The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the application of the Convention by supplying, for example, as provided for by Part VI of the report form, extracts of inspection reports, statistics or any other relevant information.

[The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1993].