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The Committee notes the Government’s detailed report received in August 2006 and the annual inspection report for 2005 containing all the information requested by virtue of Article 27 of the Convention. The Committee also notes the Government’s reply to its previous comments, in particular on the points raised by the Association L.611-10 in a communication sent to the ILO on 20 September 2004, and the observations made by the union SNU-TEF (FSU) on 13 January 2005 and 13 July 2006, which were forwarded to the Government on 2 March 2005 and 4 September 2006, respectively.

In its observation of 13 January 2005, the SNU-TEF (FSU), as well as the Association L.611-10, which the Government states is not a trade union, referred to the assassination by a farmer in Dordogne in September 2004 of two labour inspection officials while engaged in their functions and pointed to the lack of commitment by the Government in situations in which labour inspection officials are facing difficulties. According to the union, the Government’s attitude has contributed to the development of a climate of lack of respect and consideration from employers towards labour inspection officials, thereby encouraging the violation of labour laws. Noting that many of the points raised by the union concern the application of Convention No. 81 by the Government, the Committee refers to its observation under that Convention on issues of application that are common to the two instruments, and requests the Government to supply any comments it may wish to make on the matters raised.

With regard to issues related specifically to the application of the present Convention, the union criticizes the Government for not taking measures or issuing instructions relating to the obstacles and aggressions perpetrated against labour inspection officials while engaged in their duties. In contrast with labour inspectors in industrial and commercial establishments, labour inspectors in agriculture do not benefit from psychological and legal support structures following incidents of aggression. Moreover, the only step taken by the Ministry of Agriculture consisted of entrusting the general inspectorate with the mission of reducing inspections, particularly by the labour inspectorate for agriculture, in order to improve the experience of farmers subject to inspections. The labour inspection services in agriculture saw this step as a denial of their daily supervisory work.

The Committee however notes with interest the measures announced by the Government with a view to strengthening the authority needed by inspection officials in their relations with employers and workers in the agricultural sector.

1. Effective cooperation of judicial authorities. In a joint letter, the Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Cohesion, the Vice-Minister for Labour Relations and the Minister of Agriculture requested the Minister of Justice to give instructions to public prosecutors to pursue with the greatest severity cases of threats and aggression against labour inspectors. This request was followed by a letter sent by the Minister of Justice on 12 May 2005 to public prosecutors in appeal courts calling for the strict application of law, focusing systematically, where appropriate, on the aggravating circumstance of the victim being responsible for discharging a public service, with special attention to labour inspectors. The Government refers by way of illustration to the case of an employer who opposed an inspection and who was given a suspended prison sentence and a 4,000 euro fine, following the intervention of the Minister of Agriculture with the Minister of Justice.

2. Improving security conditions for labour inspectors and controllers. A working group has been formed to review inspection proceedings and regional meetings of labour inspectors have been organized with a view to exchanging experience of practice and finding solutions. These were followed by the adoption of practical measures: initial and continued training of labour inspection officials on the management of difficult inspections; the establishment of an immediate psychological support procedure in the case of aggression or obstacles to inspections; the strengthening of the legal protection of inspection personnel; the improved coordination of the inspections and their follow-up in order to improve relations between the administration and farmers.

3. Improvement of the training of labour inspection officials and cooperation between the various labour inspection services. The director of the National Institute of Labour, Employment and Vocational Training has been entrusted with the mission of reviewing the functioning and the organization of labour inspection. The mission will focus on trends and the organization of inspections, the management of conflicts and the initial and further training of labour inspection officials. According to the Government, an instruction issued by the Prime Minister on 2 January 2006 proposes closer collaboration, as an experiment, between labour inspectorates in agriculture and labour inspectorates in industry, commerce and services. The Committee requests the Government to supply any additional information that it considers useful on the matters raised by the organization in its successive comments.

Moreover, the Committee notes the following information provided by the Government relating to the resources and activities of the labour inspectorate over the past two years.

4. Labour inspection staff in agriculture. The Committee notes with interest the information concerning the ratio of the number of labour inspection officials compared to the number of agricultural undertakings liable to inspection and the number and categories of workers covered in terms of annual working time. It also notes with interest that for 2005, the budgetary allocations covered 227 labour inspectors and 149 labour controllers. It would be grateful if the Government would continue providing information on the strengthening of the human resources of the labour inspectorate and indicate the enforcement activities relating to working conditions and the protection of workers in comparison to the other activities entrusted to labour inspection officials.

5. Importance of inspections of illegal employment in the work of labour inspection. The Committee notes that the large proportion of inspections covering illegal employment (41 per cent of all inspections in 2005) reflects the fact that this is considered by the Government to be a priority issue. However, these controls are also intended to verify conditions of work of workers (wages, leave, hours of work, accommodation, etc.). The Committee notes that the observation of the SNU-TEF (FSU), received by the ILO on 13 July 2006 and forwarded to the Government on 4 September 2006, raises the issue of the incompatibility of this activity with the mission of protecting the conditions of work of all workers without consideration of the question of the legality of their employment relationship. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on how it is planned, where appropriate, to respond to the concerns expressed by the union as to the role of labour inspection in the field of protecting the conditions of work of foreign workers who are illegally resident in the country.