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Original article: Tomás Rau: El economista neoliberal de la UC que llega a podar la ley de 40 horas

The academic’s mission is to implement a technical adjustment to labor costs and halt the legacy of the 40-hour work week.

Tomás Rau Binder’s appointment has emerged as a key signal of «technical certainty» for markets starting this March. With a Ph.D. from Berkeley and the endorsement of the academic elite, the new Minister of Labor and Social Welfare is stepping into one of the most sensitive portfolios to prioritize economic growth over union demands.

Born in 1973 and educated at Liceo 11 of Las Condes, Rau is not the type of politician who frequents neighborhoods or raises banners in Alameda. His natural habitat is the classrooms of the Institute of Economics at UC and the boards where econometrics and hard data are discussed. This distance from political “mud” raises questions, as a man accustomed to academic papers will need the finesse to negotiate with a CUT that has already declared him «persona non grata».

Within economic right-wing circles, his arrival is celebrated as a victory over «voluntarism.» Rau is a staunch critic of Gabriel Boric’s reforms, labeling them «economic denialism» for failing to acknowledge their negative impact on small and medium-sized enterprises. «As long as the authorities continue to increase labor costs, I don’t see any improvement in employment,» he stated, making it clear that his management will aim to prune any policy that, in his view, stifles private investment.

The connection that generates the most noise in the opposition is his involvement in the document ‘El Puente,’ where he shared table with old-guard economists like Rolf Lüders, a former minister during the dictatorship. For figures in Congress like Congressman Andrés Giordano and organizations such as CUT, this alliance is proof that Rau is an «orthodox neoliberal» disguised under the rhetoric of an independent technical expert. Thus, Rau’s arrival is not an academic shift, but a signal that the Ministry of Labor will specifically operate to halt negotiations and reverse gains made in recent years.

While his predecessors worked through the legislative maze of pension reform, Rau’s priority is not to negotiate laws but to accelerate ‘flexibility’ in employment contracts. In his columns, he emphasizes that «poverty is not solved with subsidies, but with work,» a statement that sounds like a threat to social protections in union circles. His vision holds that current labor rights are a «rigidity» preventing unemployment from falling below 8%.

Controversy has already taken root before he even steps foot in his new ministerial office. Lawmakers from Frente Amplio and the PC, such as Andrés Giordano, warned that Rau represents an «unmasked employer offensive.» The gossip in Valparaíso is that the new minister does not come to negotiate, but to audit, seeking to reverse through the new director of the Labor Directorate the rulings that currently favor workers regarding the implementation of the 40-hour work week, under the pretext of restoring «operational efficiency» to businesses.

Another point that raises suspicion is his stance on informality. Rau argues that measures like the minimum wage have pushed many into street vending or into jobs without contracts, pointing out that «it is not viable for a reform to increase savings with a third of workers not contributing.» Social organizations fear that his solution might involve making layoffs cheaper by eliminating severance pay for years of service, an idea that previously circulated within Kast’s plans.

The execution of the agenda proposed by the minister falls on the deputy minister of labor, Gustavo Rosende Salazar, whose curriculum is marked by his role as legislative director at the Jaime Guzmán Foundation. Rosende has already taken his first step by withdrawing the Branch Negotiation project from Congress, one of the key promises of Boric’s government, arguing that it affected productivity. This decision, combined with his past as a lawyer for large corporations in labor disputes, creates a formal break with organizations like the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras (CUT), who see him as a direct operator of employer interests aimed at dismantling union power.

In the Undersecretariat of Social Security, María Elisa Cabezón’s figure reinforces the pro-market approach of the ministry. Coming from think tanks like Pivotes and Libertad y Desarrollo, Cabezón is a proponent of the AFP model and has publicly stated the need to “stop the spending”. Her position generates controversy among pensioner associations, as she opposes the solidarity components of the previous pension reform, prioritizing individual savings and state austerity over strengthening the public pillar.

The new minister, along with his undersecretaries, is faced with the challenge of demonstrating that their mathematical models can withstand social conflict in a country that still remembers that behind every number is a family trying to make ends meet.

While Rau insists that «facts are stubborn» and that the economy cannot bear more burdens, organized workers are preparing to resist what they see as a decades-long setback. Ultimately, the academic who preferred the silence of libraries in London and New York will now have to learn to speak the language of crisis in a government that has opted for a numbers hawk to «restore order» in the house.

Check out the episode of Sentido Común dedicated to discussing the labor policies of the new government.

La entrada Tomás Rau: The Neoliberal Economist at UC Tasked with Restructuring the 40-Hour Work Law se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.