Almost three weeks before the National Holidays, one of the most important celebrations of the year in Chile, the National Congress has begun the process of a bill that seeks to extend the days off of the celebrations by declaring a holiday for Thursday, September 17, which would be added to the non-negotiable holidays of Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19. This Tuesday, and after a postponement, the Interior Government commission of the Chamber of Deputies has generally approved a proposal promoted by parliamentarians from the Communist Party to establish the new holiday. The lack of time to process the regulation, in addition to the rejection from the José Antonio Kast Administration, has cast doubts on its entry into force.
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The idea proposed by the communist legislators has been generally approved by nine votes in favor and four votes against. The particular vote has been left pending for another commission session scheduled for next Tuesday, September 9. The project has sparked a strong debate between the government and the opposition. From the Republican Party, of the far right, they have not given unanimity to accelerate the process. Republican deputy Cristian Araya has accused the left of presenting a populist initiative that harms small and medium-sized enterprises amid a delicate economic moment. “This is a populist and irresponsible project. They are playing with the expectations of millions of Chileans. This project will not become law,” Araya declared.
Communist deputy Marcos Barraza has acknowledged the difficulty of making the September 17 holiday project a reality, but has stated that his bench will persevere in the attempt. “The Republican Party turns its back on Chilean families, on gathering, on sharing with family, on the economic reactivation of informal businesses, of the small merchant. With this refusal, it prohibits internal consumption that activates disaster zones. Ultimately, we have a Republican party that refuses the well-being of Chilean families with an additional holiday,” Barraza said.
The Kast Administration had expressed its refusal to decree a new holiday for the National Holidays. It did so after the presentation of another project submitted by deputy Zandra Parisi, from the populist People’s Party (PDG). On August 10, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Máximo Pavez, recalled that there is a regulation to establish long weekends in case a holiday like the National Holidays appears in the calendar in the middle of a week. “It is not on the Executive’s horizon to propose a legislative initiative project to promote a holiday,” Pavez said.
The Republican deputies have announced that they will present a constitutional reservation on the project, since the declaration of holidays is an exclusive initiative of the President of the Republic.
Without the 17th holiday; the 18th and 19th of September are non-negotiable
With the almost impossible processing deadlines to meet in Congress, it is almost certain that Thursday, September 17 will not be a holiday for Chile. In this way, the celebration days will remain for Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19, days which according to the law are non-negotiable holidays for commerce.
Chile’s labor system considers these days off for a large part of the country’s workers, including those who work in essential businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies. Those who need to purchase basic products during those days will have to go to businesses attended by their own owners or pharmacies that open their doors according to a schedule.
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