Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1989, publiée 76ème session CIT (1989)

The Committee notes the observations submitted by the Confederation of Copper Workers concerning the application of the Convention and the comments forwarded by the Government on this subject. According to the Confederation, the management of the Codelco Salvador enterprise is strongly pressuring workers employed in the extraction of minerals to accept exceptions to rest-days on Sundays and public holidays, although such exceptions are only authorised in the cases listed restrictively in section 37 of the Labour Code (among which the work of extraction does not appear).

In its comments, the Government indicates that, after examining the situation, the Labour Directorate arrived at the conclusion that the observations submitted by the Confederation of Copper Workers were groundless. The workers in question are employed in work which, for technical and economic reasons, cannot be interrupted. They can therefore be excepted from the rest-day on Sundays and on public holidays, in accordance with the provisions of section 37(2) of the Labour Code and of point 2 of the IInd category under Decree No. 101 of 16 January 1918, issuing regulations respecting the rest-day on Sundays.

In the light of the information available to it, the Committee notes that the application of the Convention has not been questioned. It also points out that Article 4 of the Convention clearly establishes that the State may authorise total or partial exceptions to the principle of the weekly rest-day, provided that special regard is had to all proper humanitarian and economic considerations.