Supreme Decree No. 73 of March 7, 2006, says that the following is an occupational disease:
"Neurosis caused by jobs that expose the risk of psychic tension and that a cause-effect relationship with the job is proven."
Concept
“We call labor neurosis the set of moral and psychological frustrations that flow (directly and indirectly) from the new capitalism, as well as from the policies used to confront-damage-social problems. Both phobias and fears arise from job flexibility. The precariousness of jobs, and low wages, result in a neurotic fear of being fired or not finding a job.
Facing a difficult scenario and with serious consequences. Behavioral imbalances such as panic attacks, depression, stress, are some examples of the pathologies that are increasing day by day in Chilean society. Long and exhausting working hours cause undeniable physical and mental wear and tear, a truism !; However, this is precisely where one of the most hypocritical and indecent conclusions of the defenders of the model arises: «labor flexibility has the sole objective of alleviating the wear and tear caused by those heavy working hours, we want to make your life more humane and bearable … ». (Paulo Navarrete V. Professor of Philosophy Diego Portales Professional Institute, Concepción).
From a less controversial point of view we can point out that LABOR NEUROSIS can be understood as the factor or set of factors related to work, that is, due to or on the occasion of work functions, which impact in such a way on the worker's organism, that are capable of causing significant somatic or psychic alterations and that affect the integrity of the worker, causing disability or death.
These factors can be absolutely external, as clearly happens in response to prolonged moral harassment, workplace harassment or stress derived from workloads, to which the worker is not able to respond, either for his own reasons or those derived from the work environment.
In our environment, occupational neurosis preferentially acquires stress treatment, which is considered to be the consequences of psychosociological factors prevailing in the work environment, of marked toxicity in group relationships, or derived from the excesses to which workers are subjected in relation to the reward for their work.
These factors create internal pressures capable of destabilizing the individual, causing serious shortcomings that can take him from mild disability to a tragic and definitive end.
The DS 73 of March 7, 2006, maintains the purpose of making these diseases originating from occupational neurosis, be recognized first, and then treated within the framework of Law 16.744, that is, as professional diseases or derived directly from work, when in fact they have a direct relationship, because of, or simply indirect, with the occasion of it. This is nothing more than the updating and recognition that the working human being suffers a deterioration or wear and tear in the fulfillment of their tasks, which are affected in a greater way when it is within the company itself where the triggering factors lie in overwork, poor pay or simply mistreatment or moral harassment. It is, then,of the legal recognition of a situation that makes meat in almost half of Chilean workers, at least recognized in a third or more of them.
All of us are workers in different activities and by different means.
Let us ask ourselves, would it be a happy job if the pay is low and greedy; if the demands are every day greater with respect to production levels and, if in that environment, we are mistreated, humiliated and our fundamental rights are not recognized.
Obviously we would not be happy or satisfied.
Work was conceived as a source of life and grace, not as an element of torture and an inexhaustible source of enrichment for third parties at the cost of the life or health of others, the workers.
Some causes
Many of the causes of labor neurosis are related to the company itself: jobs of great difficulty without the workers having been efficiently trained; great responsibility accumulated on the workers; sudden changes of work or tools or techniques, etc.
In this aspect we must also consider bad direction or lack of leadership; unfair promotions; moral harassment and others that derive directly from bad business organization.
The negative and inappropriate work environment is also a cause of work neurosis.
This is a very neglected element in most Chilean companies overloaded with bureaucratic work, with a management isolated from those who really produce wealth, that is, workers, without efficient planning and without prior study of the tasks to be carried out. Likewise, labor relations in permanent conflict of authority in which supervision is not of a technical or pedagogical nature, but merely punitive, which leads to intoxicating the work environment and the human element, always in permanent contact.
Real consequences for workers
The human duality of soma and psyche make up an inseparable and absolutely necessary unit for the individual to respond as a human being to the environment and to interpersonal relationships. If any of these fundamental elements is aggravated, the worker automatically ceases to fulfill his tasks satisfactorily and the possibilities of error or failure increase enormously, with the consequences for the company and for the health of each of its workers.
LABOR NEUROSIS causes, among others, some of the following diseases or conditions in the patient's health. Let's see:
Dyspepsia, Gastritis, Anxiety, Accidents, Frustration, Insomnia, Nervous Colitis, Migraine, Depression, Aggression, Family Dysfunction, Panic Neurosis, Sexual Disorders, Occupational Dysfunction, Arterial Hypertension, Myocardial Infarction, Addictions, Brain Thrombosis, Antisocial Behaviors, Psychosis Severe.
Business attitude
Companies in Chile are faithful to the concept of the University of Chicago. They are not charitable institutions, mutual aid organizations or solidarity institutions. They are a machine for making profits, maximizing profits and spending as little time as possible with the least costs.
It is evident that in this conception there is an abysmal disharmony with the social conception of the company in which the worker is recognized as a fundamental, creative, imaginative element and owner of the work capacity and the time necessary to produce goods and services destined to satisfy needs of society.
The worker is interested in better remuneration, the company is interested in slavery; the worker is interested in a decent work environment, the company is not interested in investing in additional matters; the worker is interested in a job that allows him to contribute to the development of his family and the well-being and safety of his home, the company is interested in workers one hundred percent during 24 hours; the worker is interested in job security; to the company labor flexibility; the worker is interested in recognition of their contribution, the company is interested in ignoring the worker when counting their profits.
In short, it does not exist and today in Chile businessmen refuse to allow greater harmony between the interests of workers and companies.
It is horrifying to observe how employers evade their pension, safety and hygiene burdens. In this they have the consent of the mutuals, who turn a blind eye when employers avoid reporting workplace accidents. The Mutual Superintendency is always away from the “madding crowd” and is not able to appreciate the distortion that mutuals make regarding the purposes they swore to fulfill when they were created.
How many of our readers have not suffered the martyrdom of having a medical license rejected?
Obviously there is an inefficiency in the matter of Social Security in which the State of Chile has not stuck its nose, if it did, it would exclaim like Hamlet:
"Something stinks in Denmark"
conclusion
The current reality of the Chilean Social Security policy forces the State to put a shortcut to the excesses of the companies with respect to the life and health of the workers. The authority must not forget that by mandate of the current Magna Carta, it has the obligation to protect the constitutional rights of each inhabitant of this Nation and it happens that in the aspect in which it is most needed there is a state of relaxation that bad businessmen usually take advantage of in order to evade its commitment to workers and the provisions that order it.
As has been seen on the occasion of the recent festivities at the end of the year, businessmen make fun of the legal regulations. We are not in charge of the Government, but of the State as a whole, in the country vision that has to sustain a development that is based on the misfortune of the most needy, whom the law and justice tend to forget as people and in their legal assets.
What we uphold is nothing more than a reasonable position of equity and justice and for this reason, greater clarity is not necessary, since the daily facts noticed by all are part of these foundations.
