Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

1. Article 8, paragraph 3, of the Convention. In previous comments, the Committee has requested the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure compensatory rest for persons required to work on the weekly rest day. In reply, the Government has referred to section 10 of Act No. 1 of 1951 which provides that in every week at least one day of rest shall be granted. Section 12 of this Act, however, provides for deviation from the provisions in section 10 "in cases where, at any particular time, customary time or within a specific period, there is an accumulation of work which must soon be finished". Paragraph 2 of section 10 provides that Government Regulation should lay down the provisions for such exemptions. While Article 8 of the Convention permits temporary exemptions to the weekly rest day in the event of abnormal pressure of work due to special circumstances, paragraph 3 provides that the persons thus required to work on the weekly rest day are to be granted compensatory rest of at least 24 hours.

The Government is therefore once again requested to indicate the measures taken to ensure that compensatory rest is provided to persons required to work on the weekly rest day by virtue of section 12 of Act No. 1 and to indicate any special regulations which might have been issued in this regard under paragraph 2 of section 12.

2. In its report of 1985, the Government had indicated that the first step of implementation of this provision of the Convention was carried out by taking it into account in the establishment of collective labour agreements. In this regard, the Committee notes the collective agreement concerning workers in the Hilton Hotel provided by the Government with its latest report. Hotel workers, however, are not necessarily covered by this Convention unless so declared by the Government under Article 3, paragraph 2: the Government is therefore invited to consider extending the application of the Convention to hotel workers by communicating to the International Labour Office a declaration in the terms of that paragraph. The Government is, in addition, requested to supply copies of any collective agreements regulating weekly rest days for workers in the establishments covered by the Convention under Article 2.