Kast’s Program and Its Risks for Retail Workers

Original article: El programa de Kast y los peligros para las y los trabajadores del Retail

By Juan Francisco La Regla Rojas and Felipe Burgos Ortiz

In mid-August, presidential candidate José Antonio Kast unveiled his government plan. Among its key proposals is the sixth measure of his «Labor Revolution,» titled ‘More and Better Jobs,’ which advocates for «modern labor legislation» designed to promote employment flexibility and multifunctional contracts, allowing workers and employers to negotiate flexible working hours and innovative forms of productive organization.

Interestingly, in July, the CPC introduced a report titled “Engines for Sustainable Growth in Chile,” identifying the need for actions that enhance labor mobility and permit hiring modalities that encourage formal and protected jobs. Notably, point 27 suggests allowing voluntary extensions or modifications of job functions in employment contracts between workers and employers.

Two significant references emerge here: the programmatic similarities between the far-right representative and the country’s large business sector, and their shared belief that the only way to strengthen formal employment is through deregulation and labor flexibility.

Multifunctional hiring is already a reality in Chile, as highlighted in the research by Oyarzo and Tassara (2024), which reveals an 80% infraction rate in supermarkets and a 70% rate in large stores from 529 inspections conducted.

However, there are limits to multifunctionality, as discussed in works by Alvarado-Barrientos (2025) and Burgos (2025). Although fines have been imposed on companies for this type of hiring, they persist in employing these practices. A clear example is Labor Judgment-Collection No. 1226-2024 from August 26, 2025, which penalized a company with a fine of 60 UTM for failing to meet these criteria.

This highlights a conflict: we have a sector of business and Chilean politics seeking to legitimize the illegitimate actions of companies, validating their practices and reducing the fines they incur—which are already low—while shifting increased levels of flexibility and precarity onto workers.

Thus, we must ask: who benefits from increasing multifunctionality? The answer is clear: large companies, which reduce the number of workers in their establishments and burden a few with the workload previously handled by many, negatively impacting their health and the quality of consumer service.

Juan Francisco la Regla Rojas, President of the Inter-Company Union of Walmart Supermarket Workers (U.T.S.) and Director of the National Confederation of Trade Production and Service Workers (CONATRACOPS)

Felipe Burgos Ortiz, Lawyer at Praxis Legal Solutions Group, Master’s in Social Sciences of Work from FSOC UBA.

SOURCES

Alvarado-Barrientos, P. (2025). Multifunctionality in employment contracts: Configurative elements and implementation issues. Legal Journal (Coquimbo), 32, e6678. https://doi.org/10.22199/issn.0718-9753-6678

Burgos Ortiz, F. A. (2025). Multifunctionality in retail in Chile: An analysis of jurisprudence from the Directorate of Labor and Chile’s illustrious Courts of Appeal. Journal of the Judicial Studies Institute (10), 35-59.
http://www.cpc.cl/motores-para-impulsar-el-crecimiento-sostenible-de-chile/

Kast Program
https://kast.cl/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Programa_Jose_Antonio_Kast_R.pdf

Oyarzo, M., & Tassara, G. (2024). Labor infringements in the retail sector: An analysis of recent inspection results from the Directorate of Labor (1).
https://www.dt.gob.cl/portal/1629/articles-126254_archivo_01.pdf