Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

In the comments that it has been making for a number of years, the Committee notes that measures have not yet been taken to limit the weight of loads that may be transported by adult male workers.

Even before the adoption of the Labour Code in 1975, the Government announced in its reports that texts to apply the Code would include a text to give effect to this Convention. In a report received in 1983, the Government confirmed this undertaking, although it pointed out that factories manufacturing jute and plastic sacks for rice, flour, etc., now respected the standard of 50 kg, and that the old sacks of 70 or 75 kg were disappearing since they were no longer being manufactured in Madagascar. In its report for the period ending 30 June 1986, the Government indicated that the above information concerning the current standardisation of sacks manufactured locally remained valid and that this practice would be laid down in regulations.

However, the Government's last report, which was received in 1989, and the two letters signed by the Minister of the Civil Service, Labour and Labour Legislation in 1988, which were attached to the report, show that, in practice, factories, traders, transporters and farmers use sacks of 90 kg, 75 kg or 70 kg, which are generally manufactured locally, even though certain enterprises which are the principle manufacturers of these articles currently respect the standard of 50 kg. Consequently, the use of sacks that are in conformity with the requirements of international standards would, in the opinion of the Government, give rise to problems at the level of manufacture and consumption and would create difficulties as regards production costs and prices for manufacturers, users, producers and farmers. In a letter to the social partners in November 1988, the Minister invited them to recommend production units, "in order to avoid the harmful effects of the immediate application of the Convention in national law and so as not to be in opposition with the country's undertakings on the international level", to manufacture, by stages, sacks of 55 kg or 65 kg and to launch them progressively, as they are produced, onto the market.

The Committee recalls that by virtue of Article 3 of the Convention, no worker shall be required or permitted to engage in the manual transport of a load which, by reason of its weight, is likely to jeopardise his health or safety. This rule does not provide for any exceptions on the grounds of production costs or prices or for any other reason. Soon it will be 30 years since Madagascar has ratified the Convention. For several years, the Government has been undertaking to lay down in regulations the current practice adopted by the principle manufacturers of sacks which respect the standard of 50 kg. In these circumstances, its letter recommending the production of sacks of up to 65 kg constitutes a serious retrogression. The Committee trusts that the Government will re-examine its position and that it will indicate in the near future the measures that have been taken to ensure that the Convention is applied to adult male workers. [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]