San José, Aug 5 (Elpaís.cr).- Pastoral Social Caritas, a commission of the Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica, rejected Bill 21,182, aimed at introducing some reforms to the Labor Code; among them, 12-hour work days for four consecutive days, followed by three days off (4-3).
The statement points out that the Commission’s reflection is based on social ethics, from which the Church addresses issues such as work and human development, which consists of “the passage, for each one and for all, of less humane living conditions to more human conditions” (Saint Paul VI, Populorum progressio 20).
For four or three days, workers subject to these work schedules would be away from home for 12 hours, to which must be added the commuting between their places of residence and their workplaces. This would easily mean 14 hours or more away from home.
The spokesman for the Social Pastoral, Fr. Edwin Aguiluz Milla, warned that “this work regime would affect family life, weakening family ties.”
In addition, “it would seriously harm the tasks of caring for dependent people (minor, elderly and others), which would result, in many cases, in the impossibility of joining the labor market for many people.”
“Given that women are usually the ones who bear the greatest burden of care tasks, they would be seriously affected and, in many cases, their possibilities of accessing formal paid work would be closed,” he explained.
For Aguiluz, “the 4-3 days would be incompatible with the study schedules of a large part of workers who study outside of their working hours. In addition, it is documented that such long working hours have an impact on the physical and mental health of working people”.
There are no guarantees that, under the current conditions of the labor inspectorate by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the principle of voluntariness in the incorporation into the regime of the 4.3 sessions is respected for all people, explains the statement.
Aguiluz stressed that the document warns that the cultural identity of a large part of the Costa Rican population, which is confessionally Christian, must be respected, so that Sunday is an important part of their spirituality, as a day of joy, rest and solidarity.
“12-hour days on Sundays are incompatible with this practice of a large part of Costa Ricans,” he concluded.
For the Pastoral Social Caritas, “in short, this reform of working hours, far from favoring integral human development, would harm it. The document points out that there are ways for economic reactivation and, therefore, for job creation, both from the Executive and Legislative Powers, which do not produce job insecurity or affect family life, care tasks, study and education. health of working people.