Chile: Battle lines drawn

The Santiago Court of Appeals has overruled the labour inspectorate by declaring that any group of workers may sign a collective agreement with their employer. It is not necessary that the agreement be signed by a trades union. This is the latest move in a saga that began with a Bill Approved by Congress in April 2016. This sought to give unions exclusivity when concluding collective agreements. But the Bill was stuck down by the Constitutional Court. The government still went ahead with enacting the new law, but it was only a matter of time before the court’s defence of absolute human rights would run up against the politicians’ love affair with the union movement.

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