Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2007, publiée 97ème session CIT (2008)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report.

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Period during which night work is prohibited. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that section 175 of the Federal Labour Act prohibited night work for young persons under the age of 18 in industry. It also noted that section 60 of the Act defined night work as work performed between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., i.e. a period of ten hours. The Committee pointed out that the national legislation did not give effect to Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, which defines “night” as a period of 12 consecutive hours. The Government initially indicated that Mexico’s labour legislation did not define “night” as a period of at least 12 consecutive hours and was inconsistent with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee took note of the draft legislation to supplement section 175 of the Federal Labour Act (prohibition on night work for persons under 18 years of age) which gave effect to the Convention. However, the Government thereafter stated that there was no discrepancy between the national legislation and this provision of the Convention, and that no such amendment to the Federal Labour Act was envisaged.

The Committee takes note of the information sent by the Government in its report to the effect that the labour inspection services have not detected any night work by minors. The Committee notes with regret that although it has made repeated requests since 1972, the Government has not yet taken the necessary legislative measures to give effect to the Convention. It again points out to the Government that section 60 of the Federal Labour Act, by providing that work performed between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. is night work, establishes a period of ten hours, and is accordingly inconsistent with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, which requires a period of 12 consecutive hours. The Committee urges the Government to take legislative measures to remedy this state of affairs as soon as possible and requests it to report all progress made in this regard.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2008.]