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Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Morocco (RATIFICATION: 1979)

Other comments on C129

Observation

Direct Request

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The Committee refers the Government to its observation and draws its attention to the points raised in its direct request on the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).

Article 20(c), Article 16(3) and Article 21 of the present Convention:

(i) resources, transport facilities and methods of refunding travel and accommodation costs for labour inspectors’ duty travel;
(ii) confidentiality regarding complaints in the course of inspection visits and the freedom inspectors need in this connection;
(iii) publication and communication to the ILO of an annual report on inspection activities.

For the application of the present Convention, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would take the measures requested in its comments under Convention No. 81 regarding the points enumerated above, and would provide information on these measures and on their impact on the operation of the labour inspection services in agricultural undertakings (volume and quality of work and results obtained in terms of compliance with and development of the legislation).

The Committee also asks the Government to provide additional information on the following points:

Article 14(a)(i) and (ii) of the Convention. Availability of information essential to the preparation of a general annual report on the work of the labour inspection services. The Committee notes with interest that, according to the Government, the agricultural districts keep files on agricultural and forestry undertakings and their dependencies. It notes the geographical distribution of the 1,345 enterprises registered according to the size of the workforce they employ and the distribution of the 29 agricultural labour inspectors throughout the national territory. Noting that the number of regions differs as between enterprises or inspectors, and that the size of the inspectorate appears not to take account of the number and size of undertakings in the regions as shown in the two tables, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide details of the criteria used to determine the number of inspectors.

Article 6(1)(a) and Articles 13 and 17 of the Convention. Supervisory activities of inspectors in agriculture and action taken on safety and health injunctions and breaches of the legislation. The Committee notes that, according to the statistics of inspection visits in agricultural undertakings in 2010, 1,069 inspections concerned, in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the Convention, conditions of work and the protection of agricultural workers, including the application of collective labour agreements (in particular minimum wage, hours of work, annual holiday, weekly rest, overtime, employment of women and children, occupational safety and health, social security, trade union representatives, etc.). The Committee notes, however, that 810 visits were for unspecified “miscellaneous” reasons. Inspectors notified 37,130 warnings in the course of visits but appear not to have drawn up reports of infringements (section 539 of the Labour Code; section 16 of the Dahir of 27 July 1972; section 79 of Dahir No. 1-2-296 of 3 October 2002), or to have initiated or recommended summary proceedings for failure to execute injunctions issued to eliminate risks to the workers’ safety and health (section 543 of the Labour Code), or to have recommended (section 545 of the Code) the prosecution of employers in breach of the regulations or an order to take preventive action, with a view to imposing on them the penalties laid down in section 300 of the Labour Code and section 324 of the Penal Code.

The Committee asks the Government to provide further details of the areas covered by the 810 visits described as “miscellaneous”, and to send information on the exercise in practice of inspectors’ powers to make or have made orders and to prosecute, in accordance with Articles 18, 22 and 23 of the Convention, those offending against the legislation on working conditions and the protection of workers in the agricultural sector.

It would also be grateful if the Government would ensure that information on the results of the exercise of these powers, as defined in the national legislation mentioned above, are included in the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate to be published and sent to the ILO by the central labour inspection authority for agriculture.

Article 9. Special training for labour inspectors in agriculture. The Committee notes the general information sent by the Government regarding training courses for labour inspectors. It asks the Government to supply details of the training provided during the period covered by the next report for inspectors performing their duties in agricultural undertakings. It also asks the Government to take steps to ensure that inspectors receive on-the-job training in supervision of conditions of work in agriculture (safety and health as they relate to risks inherent in the use of phytosanitary products, proximity to domestic and other animals, quality of drinking water, use of certain agricultural tools and machinery, etc.), so that these inspectors are in a position to pass on relevant information and technical advice to employers and workers in agriculture and to members of their families living in the agricultural undertakings.

Article 13. Cooperation between the labour inspection services and employers and workers or their organizations. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the methods for cooperation advocated in Paragraph 14(1) of the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide further particulars of the “contacts ordered under the contracts of agreed objectives signed with 30 employment delegations for the year 2011” which, according to the Government, constitute, along with the provision of advice and the organization of seminars, the means of securing cooperation between the labour inspection services and the social partners. It asks the Government to indicate in particular the form and purpose of such contacts and to provide copies of “contracts of agreed objectives” signed in the course of 2011 in the agricultural sector.

Article 27. Content of the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate in agricultural undertakings. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, labour inspectors receive training in child labour. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information in its next report on the inspection activities (information, technical advice, warnings) carried out in the agricultural sector to combat this scourge, and on the results of these activities and the extent to which they have succeeded. Furthermore, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would ensure that information is included on the inspection activities conducted to alert the social partners to the social and economic advantages to be gained from compliance with the provisions of the law on the work of women in agricultural enterprises, particularly pregnant women or nursing mothers.

Lastly, the Government is asked to provide the web address of the Department of Employment, since in its report the Government states that this website posts a comprehensive annual report which the public and the social partners may consult in order to obtain all statistical data and all activities pertaining to labour inspection. The Government is also asked to indicate any comments by employers’ or workers’ organizations on the report or reports published on the site.