From 12 days in Mexico to 30 days in Brazil: this is how Latin America rests

The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved this Thursday to double the minimum vacation days guaranteed by law.

The measure, which will enter into force on January 1, although it has yet to go through the Senate, represents a small revolution in terms of labor rights in the North American country.

The initiative obtained the support of all political groups and proposes that employees with more than a year of seniority in a company enjoy 12 continuous days, double the current ones, unless the worker chooses to divide them.

From that moment on, each year worked will give the right to two more days, up to 20. And from the fifth year, the days will increase every five years.

Despite substantial progress that has ended half a century of stagnation,

Mexican vacations continue to be one of the shortest in the region.

This is how some of the main countries in Latin America have approached this legislation.

Colombia

The labor regulations that set days off are over seventy years old.

In Colombia, since 1950 the law establishes that workers have the right to 15 working days of vacation per year, that is, three weeks if Saturdays and Sundays are added.

However, the political formations are preparing to discuss an extension.

Currently, there is a bill registered in Congress to increase them to 20. A fact that significantly affects the days off for Colombians are holidays.

The country has a calendar of 18 days, one of the highest figures in the world.

Brazil

The right to take vacations from work has been a legal right in Brazil for almost a century.

It started with 15 days of rest per year, it was extended almost 80 years ago, from the Getulio Vargas labor laws, to 30 days of rest.

Currently, the worker also receives the

In other words, an extra pay for vacations that is equivalent to one third of your monthly base salary that you receive before the holidays.

And, if he does not want to take all the days that correspond to him, he can sell back a third of them to the company, which has the obligation to buy them.

A convoluted regulation that has many more details and that only concerns the most privileged workers, those in the formal market.

Tourists take a selfie on the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls in April 2019. David Silverman (Getty Images)

Argentina

In Argentina, workers affiliated to a union have, in the worst case, two straight weeks of vacation.

Some guilds, such as the press, nevertheless start with three weeks.

The days also increase with seniority.

An employee with 30 years in a dependency relationship in a company can enjoy, depending on the sector, up to 45 consecutive days of rest.

To explain the roots of the right to paid vacations, we must go back to the forties and Peronism.

An untouchable conquest that today no political group dares to question.

Chili

The law establishes that workers have, at least, the right to enjoy 15 days of vacation after one year in the company, that is, three consecutive weeks fully paid.

That margin may increase depending on the conditions of the company and the contract.

In addition, there is the figure of "progressive holiday" or "progressive vacations", which according to the regulations "consists of the right of all workers to add one day of vacation for every three new years worked for their current employer", as long as they count with a seniority in your current or another company of at least 10 years worked.

Peru

In Peru, private sector workers have 30 consecutive days of rest each year, although by agreement, half of that period can be divided into one-day holidays and the other half, at most, into two periods of eight and seven days.

Public officials have the same vacations if the ordinary working day is six days and they have worked at least 260 days or, if it is five days, they have worked for 210.

Ecuador

In Ecuador, workers are entitled to 15 days of vacation per year for those who are employed in the private sector, which are inalienable and paid.

And it extends to 30 days for public officials, who are governed by regulations different from the Labor Code that was created in 1938 and that since then no attempt has been made to modify the rest days, only reforms have been made patch.

For this reason, "we have regulations that were applicable at that time and that are not needed now," explains Jorge Barzola, a labor lawyer, and it is due "to political factors because dealing with the issue has always been an unpopular measure for legislators," he adds. .

Venezuela

The Venezuelan Labor Law establishes 15 business days to enjoy paid vacations.

A decade ago, Hugo Chávez, in his last year of life, carried out an important labor reform that established a work week of 40 hours a week in five working days, with two consecutive days off for compulsory rest.

This has been the most important modification that has been made recently in the matter and implied a readjustment of the routines of services and shops and also in the budgets of the companies, by having to give two days off a week by obligation, to the that add up to 5 national holidays for national holidays, and having to make extra payments for opening on weekends.

This is the situation for 56% of the economically active Venezuelan population that has a formal job,

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