Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2001, publiée 90ème session CIT (2002)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, and in particular the adoption of Decree No. 95/101 of 9 June 1995 issuing regulations respecting public contracts and Decree No. 2000/156 of 30 June 2000 amending and supplementing certain conditions of Decree No. 95/102 of 9 June 1995 determining the functions, organization and operation of public contract commissions, which repeal Decree No. 86/903 of 18 July 1986 issuing regulations respecting public contracts.

In its previous comments, the Committee emphasized the need to amend the legislation to bring it into conformity with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. In its reply, the Government states that, even though the documents of public contracts do not indicate clearly that the workers concerned benefit from the same wages, conditions of work, safety, health and welfare as their colleagues working under private contracts and exercising the same activity in the same region, this is merely a problem of wording. In practice, labour inspectors visiting the construction sites of public buildings, for example, apply precisely the laws and regulations that are in force and the provisions of the national collective agreement for construction enterprises and public works.

The Committee notes that section 15(1) of Decree No. 95/101 above, which provides that "tendering enterprises shall undertake in their bids to comply with all laws and regulations and all clauses of collective agreements relating, among other matters, to wages, conditions of work, safety, health and welfare of the workers concerned" merely repeats the provisions of section 18(1) of Decree No. 86/903 of 18 July 1986, which it repeals. The Committee is bound to recall that, since the adoption of this latter Decree, it has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that the Decree, and particularly section 18, does not give effect to the Convention. The Committee is therefore bound once again to recall that, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, it is not sufficient for enterprises submitting bids to undertake in their bid to guarantee workers the same conditions of work as those established for work of the same nature in the trade or industry concerned in the same region, by collective agreement, arbitration award or national laws or regulations, but that clauses to this effect must be included in the final contracts concluded by the public authority. The Committee recalls that the objective of the inclusion of labour clauses in public contracts is to ensure that the wages, hours of work and other conditions of work of the workers concerned cannot be less favourable than whichever of the most favourable of the three alternatives prescribed by the Convention, namely collective agreements, arbitration awards or national laws or regulations.

The Committee once again hopes that the Government will soon take the necessary measures to bring its laws and regulations into conformity with the Convention on this point, on which it has been commenting for many years, and it requests the Government to indicate in its next report any progress achieved in this respect.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government concerning certain points.