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KAIRÓS, REVISTA DE
FACULTAD DE
CIENCIAS ECONÓMICAS, JURÍDICAS Y ADMINISTRATIVAS
CIENCIAS POLÍTICAS Y ADMINISTRATIVAS
compensation to the worker or day laborer, due to work
accidents” was promulgated (Albornoz, 1931, p. 53). On
July 13, 1925, the Social Welfare and Labor Section was
created for the first time and on July 13, 1926, the General
Labor Inspectorate was created.
in workshops, day laborers, servants and, in general,
throughout the informal sector is doubtful.
ose who lived in huasipungos were “destitute of land,
homeless, without belongings of any kind, they commit
themselves, sometimes for all their lives, for a minimum
amount whose debt is never extinguished” (Albornoz,
1931, p. 47). ose farmers who lived on rented land
pay the rent with the work of the land, that is, with what
they cultivated and, sometimes, with monetary species.
erefore, the labor context in many of the peasants did
not correspond to the one outlined in the labor laws.
As of 1927 several reforms and new laws to the labor
situation are found which are described below. On March
4
, 1927, the Labor Accident Prevention Law was passed,
on March 8, the Retirement Law, Montepío Civil, Savings
and Cooperative was enacted. On October 7, 1928, six
laws were promulgated, namely: Law on Individual
Labor Contract; Law of Maximum Duration of the
Weekly Work and Rest Day; Law on Work of Women and
Children, and Protection of Motherhood; Eviction Law;
Law on Liability for Work Accidents and Procedures Law
for Actions Coming from Work. (Albornoz, 1931, pp. 58-
e right to strikes and work risks are also considered.
With respect to strikes, on July 31, 1936, the Strikes Law
was promulgated, in which it was mentioned that in
order to benefit from this right, workers have to exhaust
the means of institutional complaints, “they must address
the employer’s his requests, to which 51% of the workers
of the factory have to adhere ... and can only declare a
strike if, three days af er receiving the aforementioned
statement, the employer is silent or replies negatively”
(Guerrero, 1937: p 25).
62).
e Law on individual work contracts defines the legal
concept of employer, eviction cases are foreseen; and
compensation for untimely separation. e Law on
maximum duration of working hours and weekly rest sets
the mandatory work of every worker, private and public
employee in eight hours a day and six days a week; In
addition, for public employees, rest days are established
on the days decreed as civic days, determines the overtime
payment; and, it indicates the daily rest that divides the
working day in two. e law of eviction of the work
indicates penalties for cases of untimely separations and
fixes the terms of eviction and indemnities. e Law on
Workers’ Compensation Liability regulates compensation
according to the severity of the harm caused by the
accident (Albornoz, 1931, pp. 63-65).
e Labor Accident Law was enacted in 1928, and was
dividedintotwo,namely:workaccidentsandoccupational
diseases. e law also prescribes compensation in
case of partial disability, “the victim has the right to be
compensated with an amount equivalent to two years of
wages” (Guerrero, 1937, p. 22).
With respect to the social security system, this was
founded in 1928 as the “Pension Fund, which established
mainly the benefits of retirement, civilian and mortuary
fund in favor of civil and military civil servants”
(
Instituto Nacional de Previsión, 1938, p. i). e benefits
e Law on the work of women and minors and the
of the Pension Fund included medical assistance, life
annuities for total disability, retirements and refunds
of all contributions. Medical assistance to workers who
suffered from illnesses contracted in the performance of
their work, or outside of them; disability annuities based
on a monthly contribution to the Caja of 5%, “the cashier
will grant an annual annuity of $ 864” (Instituto Nacional
de Previsión, 1938, p. 6); retirements when the member
was seventy-five years old, or when the member retired
with twenty or more years of contributions; refunds
of all contributions, “if the worker is unemployed, or
withdraws from the Fund for any other legal reason, his
contributions are returned intact” (Instituto Nacional de
Previsión, 1938, p. 7).
protection of maternity prohibits work for minors under
fourteen years, establishes the obligation of employers to
attend the primary education of workers under eighteen
years of age, and is established as the maximum labor
forty-eight hours a week to children under eighteen.
With regard to women, the prohibition of night work,
subsidized breaks during the previous three weeks
and the three weeks following childbirth is established
(
Albornoz, 1931, p. 64).
iscurrentlegalcontextcanbepresumedasageneralized
work environment in public works, however, it is not
a generalized environment in the private sector. No
reports have been found that report on the applicability
of labor laws, which is understandable given the high
rate of informality, with most of the population living in
community barter systems or in labor systems based on
huasipungo. us, with the labor legality system in force
to date, it is likely that it has been applied throughout the
public sector and to a lesser extent to the industrial sector.
However, the application of labor legality with workers
Minimum salary
e establishment of the minimum wage, which governs
in Ecuador as a general and mandatory rule from 1936,
is part of working conditions, as it is said next: “another
Revista Kairós, Vol. 2 (2019) No. 3, pp. 21-29, Julio - Diciembre, Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo, Riobamba-Ecuador - ISSN No. 2631-2743
http://kairos.unach.edu.ec
