Costa Rican Congress Approved 12-Hour Workdays For Certain Jobs

(MENAFN- Costa Rica News) The Costa Rican Congress today approved a motion to implement a bill known as the 4×3 bill, which would allow for the implementation of 12-hour workweeks for four days a week in certain jobs.

The initiative, approved through the“fast-track” procedure (accelerated mechanism) and approved by 42 votes in favor and seven against after previous attempts failed, seeks to reform the Labor Code to allow such schedules for qualified and exceptional positions, in exchange for three days off.

The bill, sponsored by Representative Daniela Rojas Salas of the Social Christian Unity Party, followed a previous text promoted by the National Liberation Party (PLN), which was declared unconstitutional by the Fourth Chamber during the previous legislature due to procedural flaws.

A substitute text requiring a secret vote by workers to implement 12-hour workdays is now being promoted by the PLN, whose shift toward defending the bill proved decisive in achieving the required supermajority of 38 votes.

The“fast-track” method adopted by the deputies to make this proposal viable gives the bill priority on the parliamentary agenda, according to Article 178 of the Legislative Assembly's Rules of Procedure.

That body halted the now-approved bill on May 20, lacking the necessary 38 votes and in the face of resistance from the Frente Amplio party, which has so far submitted 190 motions to halt the progress of the ruling party's text.

This organization considers the proposal an attempt to“impose modern slavery” for the benefit of transnational elites and describes the“fast-track” approach as a method that lacks“broad discussion and citizen participation.”-

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