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Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Suriname (RATIFICATION: 1976)

Other comments on C081

Observation

Direct Request

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Referring to its observation, the Committee also draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

Articles 10, 16 and 21(c) and (d) of the Convention. Number of establishments subject to labour inspection and number of labour inspectors to secure coverage. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the first census of establishments liable to inspection was carried out in 2004, and that a second census was started during the last quarter of 2010. However, this was interrupted because of a lack of financial resources and on account of electronic data processing problems. The Government had already referred in its previous report to the material and institutional difficulties of keeping a register of workplaces (registers not up to date and variations in the duration of enterprises). The Committee draws the Government’s attention once again to the need to have data on the number of workplaces liable to inspection and the number and categories of workers employed in them, in order to be able to assess the extent of the inspectorate’s coverage, under the Convention, to be able to define the number and geographical distribution of inspectors and to determine priorities on the basis of available resources. In order to improve the efficiency of the inspection services and determine priorities on the basis of available resources, the competent authorities and the inspectors need to have a thorough knowledge of the economic fields they cover. The Government is therefore asked once again to take the necessary measures to establish and update a register of establishments liable to labour inspection, taking into account the Committee’s recommendations in its general observation of 2009 under this Convention and to keep the ILO informed of any progress made in this respect.

Article 18. Penalties for violations of the legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that discussions were under way between the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Justice and Police to overcome what the labour inspectors consider to be a difficulty in applying the Convention: the legal limitation on their collection of fines. In its report, the Government notes that no change has occurred in this respect since its last report. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any developments in this situation with respect to the legal limitation of labour inspectors’ powers to collect fines and to provide information and available statistics on the way in which these powers are exerted in practice, and to send a copy of any relevant text.

Articles 20 and 21. Publication and communication of annual labour inspection reports. The Government states that preparing an annual report is still difficult for the labour inspectorate on account of technical and financial reasons. However, in its previous report the Government had stated that the computerization of the labour inspectorate was in its final stages. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the possibility of requesting ILO technical assistance to enable it finally to give effect to the obligation of the central labour inspection authority to publish an annual report of the work of the inspection services under its control and to send a copy of this report to the ILO. It draws the Government’s attention once again to the guidance in Part IV of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), as to how the information required by Article 21(a)–(g) could be presented in such a report, and to take account also of its 2010 general observation on the matter. The Committee stressed in this general observation the vital importance it attached to the publication and communication to the ILO of the annual labour inspection report within the required deadlines, as it was essential for assessing the effectiveness of the labour inspection services in practice and, consequently, in determining ways to increase their efficiency. The Committee also advocated the implementation of appropriate inter-institutional cooperation with a view to including the description of the personal coverage of the national labour inspection services in the annual report (establishments and workers covered).

Labour inspection and child labour. The Committee had noted in its previous comments the Government’s statement that the labour inspectorate would be represented on the National Commission against Child Labour, which was in the process of being established. The Government also refers in its report to the publication of a decree on the hazardous work of young workers, of which the supervision is incumbent upon the labour inspectors. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could send information on any development concerning the setting up of the National Commission against Child Labour and, in the event that it has been set up, to report on any impact it might have had on the work of the labour inspectorate in the area of child labour. The Government is also asked to send a copy of the decree on the hazardous work of young workers.