Chile introduces procedure for strategic company designation and strike restrictions

The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare in Chile recently published Exempt Resolution No. 541, which created a new procedure for identifying corporations or companies in which the right to strike may not be exercised.

The Resolution amended the previously existing process to include, for example, increased requirements for companies requesting to be declared “strategic companies” and heightened regulations related to certain stages of the overall process. Strategic companies are those that offer public utility services or whose disruption could cause serious damage to the country’s healthcare, economy, supply chain, or national security.

The deadline to apply for strategic company declaration is May 31, 2025. Following approval, strategic company status will be valid for two years.

Below are some key aspects of the revised procedure for companies to consider:

• Biennial calendar: Together, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare; Ministry of National Defense; and Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism will conduct the procedure every two years. Companies will be required to submit applications between May 1 and May 31 of the given year. Then, the ministries will issue a joint resolution no later than July 1 of that year, ruling on the applications submitted and identifying companies or corporations that will be considered strategic.
  
  
• New electronic platform: According to the Resolution, the Labor Directorate (DT) has enabled a new platform for the management of applications.
  
  
• New application content: The Resolution outlined the need for companies’ applications to identify their applicants, relevant business, market coverage, labor forces, existing unions, minimum services, and causes invoked to justify the application.
  
  
• Right to contradict: The applicant's counterpart – the company or its unions, as the case may be – will be notified by the DT within 5 calendar days after May 31 and will have 15 calendar days to submit observations and evidence to that effect.
  
  
• Interministerial coordination: The DT will send the electronic file to the relevant ministries within the first five days of July of the relevant year, together with certifications related to unions, collective instruments, upcoming bargaining processes, and minimum service resolutions.
  
  
• Correction of omissions: The ministries may request additional background information from the applicant within five days thereafter.
  
  
• Decision criteria: The Resolution will consider the existence of unions, the qualification of minimum services, the provision of essential public services, the number of users affected, territorial coverage, and any other element considered relevant.
  
  
• Appeals: Only the claim provided for in Article 402 of the Labor Code may be filed against the Resolution issued to that effect, excluding other administrative appeals.

For more information, please contact the authors.