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Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Publication and communication of reports on the activities of the inspection services. The Committee notes with interest the annual reports of the National Labour Directorate for 2007 and 2008. These reports contain much of the information required by Article 21. The Committee can thus assess to some extent how far the Convention is applied and support the Government in its efforts for gradual improvement. It notes, however, that the National Directorate’s annual reports cover not only inspection work, in accordance with Article 21 of the Convention, but also other labour administration duties, done by other public servants than inspectors. One of the aims of Articles 20 and 21 is to provide the central inspection authority with the kind of information it needs in order to determine, in the light of the social and economic objectives of labour inspection, the resources required to run the services efficiently, and in order to submit appropriate budgetary proposals for the attainment of these objectives. This aim can be achieved only if the data on the operation and results of labour inspection are compiled and consolidated separately from data on other functions of labour administration. Since, as the annual reports of the National Labour Directorate indicate, relevant data on labour inspection are available, the Committee asks the Government to take the necessary steps in the near future, with the requested ILO assistance, to have a separate annual report on the work of the inspection services published, in accordance with Articles 20 and 21, setting out clearly the information on labour inspection in industrial and commercial workplaces. Referring to its general observation of 1999 on the labour inspectorate’s role in combating child labour, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would ensure that the report in question also includes information on child labour in relation to industrial and commercial workplaces.

Article 5(a). Specific measures to encourage cooperation between the inspection services and the justice system. The Committee notes that trial magistrates, public prosecutors and labour inspection officials participated in the subregional seminar on cooperation between inspection services and judicial bodies held in Dakar from 8 to 10 May 2008 as part of a project to modernize labour administration and inspection (ADMITRA). It notes with interest that the Minister of Justice addressed a circular letter to general prosecutors asking them to urge regional prosecutors to provide for action to be taken on reports of infringements drawn up by labour inspectors and to maintain healthy cooperation with inspectors in the interests of better compliance with the labour legislation. The Committee requests the Government to provide in its next report information on the practical action taken on this circular. It requests the Government to ensure that relevant statistics are published in future annual reports on the work of the labour inspection services.

Articles 6, 7 and 10. Status, conditions of service and composition of the labour inspection staff. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that, contrary to what the Government has been announcing for years, the draft decree on bonuses and indemnities for labour inspectors has still not been promulgated. It also notes that despite the Government’s statement that 12 labour inspectors were to be recruited in 2008, the list of labour personnel for Mali includes no inspectors, and that the staff of the inspectorate are all, without exception, in the category “controllers” (31).

In an earlier report on the application of this Convention (2003), the Government indicated that it would be utopian to expect training in labour inspection, and that training for labour inspectors was limited to a grounding in labour law at the National School of Administration, an internship in the services and participation in a training course at the African Regional Labour Administration Centre (CRADAT). The Committee notes with interest, however, a training plan sent in 2008 intended for all labour services personnel and covering, inter alia, occupational risk prevention in the construction and public works sector (BTP); inspection methodology; penal action; and the preparation of various forms of inspection visit reports. Furthermore, the National Labour Directorate’s annual report for 2008 indicates that a training workshop on ethics in inspection work, work contracts and hours of work was held for controllers from 14 to 25 April 2008 and that a training session for labour inspection trainers on occupational risks was also organized, under the guidance of two experts from GIP INTER.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on any developments in the area of initial training for inspection staff, and on the number and distribution by category and level of qualification of the staff currently performing inspection duties as prescribed in Article 3(1) of the Convention, specifying the criteria used to differentiate between these categories. It would be grateful if the Government would also explain why the 12 inspectors who were supposed to be recruited in 2008 are not on the list of central and regional labour administration staff sent to the Office.

The Committee again asks the Government to adopt the measures that are essential to the improvement of the conditions of service of labour inspection staff (remuneration, career plan, merit bonuses, etc.) so as to attract to, and retain in the profession persons who are sufficiently qualified and motivated, and hopes that in its next report the Government will be in a position to provide information showing real progress in this area.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would also continue to provide details of the training received by staff performing labour inspection duties and on the practical impact of such training.

Articles 11, 16 and 21(c). Additional functions entrusted to labour inspectors, transport facilities and frequency of inspection visits. According to the abovementioned annual report for 2008, the duties of the inspection services consist not only of dispute settlement and conciliation, but also supervision of the application of the labour legislation, “which must ordinarily take up most of their time”. The report even stresses that “they must make visits to workplaces their main occupation”. The Committee notes with interest from the same report than ten vehicles have been assigned to the National Labour Directorate and the regional directorates for labour, employment and vocational training. In the absence of any figures on the industrial and commercial workplaces subject to labour inspection, the statistics of inspections (306) and the workers they covered (16,613) in the course of 2008, are not sufficient for an assessment of the labour inspectorate’s coverage rate in relation to the scope of its mandate. It nonetheless notes that in 2008, out of 1,482 individual complaints, 1,091 were settled through conciliation. The report also indicates that 11 collective labour disputes were recorded, 40 per cent of which were followed by work stoppages in which 2,935 workers took part, mostly in the mining (2,680 workers) and the hotel (208) sectors. The Committee would like to stress that conciliation is not among the duties of the labour inspectorate as defined in Article 3(1) of the Convention and that, furthermore, according to Paragraph 8 of Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), “the functions of labour inspectors should not include that of acting as conciliator or arbitrator in proceedings concerning labour disputes”.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would take measures to relieve labour inspection staff of conciliation duties so as to enable them to devote themselves more fully to supervising the legislation on working conditions and the protection of workers, making use, in particular, of the vehicles recently acquired by the labour administration. The Government is asked in its next report to provide information in this regard (number and distribution of vehicles made available to labour inspectors for travel to workplaces; measures taken to relieve labour inspectors from conciliation duties).

Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to ensure that the labour inspectorate has access to reliable data such as the number, categories and geographical distribution of workplaces and establishments subject to inspection, and the number of workers employed in them, so that the central inspection authority can plan inspection activities (supervision, advice, information) that ensure protection of the most vulnerable categories, and to ensure that this information is included in the annual report required by Articles 20 and 21.

Articles 17 and 18. Follow-up action taken by the labour inspectorate in relation to breaches of the legislation covered by the Convention. The Committee notes with interest from the 2008 annual report the most frequent causes of the individual complaints submitted to the National Labour Directorate (claims for wages and accessories; notices of dismissal or resignation; overtime; paid leave; and dismissals), and the infringements noted in the course of inspections (concerning pay registers, employer registers and safety registers; labour contracts; wages; minimum wages; safety and hygiene; hours of work; staff representation; weekly rest; social contributions; and occupational medicine). It nonetheless notes that no information is provided as to the causes of the collective labour disputes, which affect the mining and hotel sectors in particular. According to information available at the ILO, the collective action affecting the mining sector is founded on an enterprise’s violation of the provisions of a collective agreement on working conditions and the protection of certain rights at work. The miners’ claims reportedly concern, in particular, the rate of output demanded of them, the length of the working day and the non-payment of overtime and other bonuses included in a collective agreement. It would appear that the enterprise dismissed en masse workers who were covered by this collective agreement only to re-employ them under new inferior contractual conditions. The Committee requests the Government to send to the Office detailed information on the role of the labour inspectorate in collective labour disputes, particularly in the mining sector, where these conflicts have affected 2,680 workers and consequently their families. Please also indicate whether, in the enterprises concerned by these disputes, the inspection staff noted any infringements of the labour legislation covered by the Convention and whether they recommended remedial measures or the application of penalties. Pointing out that according to Article 27 of the Convention, legal provisions consist not only of laws and regulations but of arbitration awards and collective agreements upon which the force of law is conferred and which are enforceable by inspectors, the Committee requests the Government to supplement the required information with relevant statistics and documents.

Articles 14 and 21. Notification of occupational accidents and cases of occupational diseases. The Committee notes that the annual reports for 2007 and 2008 contain information on reported industrial accidents and, in the case of the report for 2008, the inquiries conducted into these accidents. It observes, however, that no information at all is provided on cases of occupational disease, although information available at the ILO refers to pathologies linked to the handling and ingestion by workers of certain toxic substances in the course of extraction work in gold mines. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the preventive measures taken to reduce the number of accidents and mitigate their consequences in the mining and public works sectors, and to take measures to allow the diagnosis of cases of service-incurred diseases and the notification of such cases to the inspection services so that their most common causes can be identified and eliminated to the extent possible. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of the measures taken for these purposes.