Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2009, publiée 99ème session CIT (2010)

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, following the conclusion of the work of the Committee set up in 2000 to amend the Labour Code, the Ministry of Labour will make new amendments to the draft Labour Code, particularly in view of its comments and the comments sent by the Office. It also notes section 42(2) of the draft amendment to the Labour Code which essentially reproduces the provisions of Articles 2(c), 3 and 4 of the Convention which provide that the maximum hours of work may be exceeded in the case of shift work, accident and continuous work respectively. However, the Committee would like further information on the following points.

Article 6 of the Convention. Permanent and temporary exceptions. The Committee has stressed on many occasions the lack of detail in the provisions of the Labour Code currently in force with regard to permanent and temporary exceptions. In this regard, it notes that the Government refers to section 42(3)(b) of the draft amendment to the Labour Code which provides for the possibility of exceeding the maximum hours of work in exceptional cases, either permanent or temporary, in which the maximum daily hours of work cannot be applied due to the “conditions of work”, provided that the average hours of work do not exceed 48 hours per week and ten hours per day. It is obliged to note, however, that this section applies only to commercial enterprises. The Committee requests the Government to provide further explanations on this matter. The Committee also recalls that Article 6 of the Convention authorizes the establishment of exceptions to the maximum hours of work only in specific cases, namely: (i) in preparatory or complementary work which must necessarily be carried on outside the limits laid down for the general working of an establishment, or for certain classes of workers whose work is essentially intermittent; and (ii) so that establishments may deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work. In this regard, it refers to its comments concerning Article 7 of the Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30), as well as to paragraphs 119–140 of its General Survey of 2005 on hours of work which provide a parallel analysis of the provisions of Conventions Nos 1 and 30 concerning permanent and temporary exceptions to the principle of the eight-hour day and the 48-hour week. The Committee hopes that, when making the new amendments to the draft Labour Code, the Government will take into account all the comments concerning the permanent and temporary exceptions authorized under the above Articles of the two Conventions. It requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any developments in this regard and to provide a copy of the new legislative text as soon as it has been adopted.

Article 7 and Part III of the report form. List of exceptions. The Committee notes that section 42(2)(c) of the draft amendment to the Labour Code provides for the possibility of exceeding the maximum hours of work in those processes which are required by reason of the nature of the process to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts, subject to the condition that the working hours shall not exceed 56 per week on average. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide, as required under this Article of the Convention, a list of the processes which are classed as being necessarily continuous in character.

Part VI of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide general information on the application of the Convention in practice, including, for example, extracts from the reports of the inspection services, statistics indicating the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, the number of violations reported relating to hours of work, as well as any other information which would enable the Committee to better assess the manner in which the Convention is applied, in both law and practice.