Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

The Committee notes the information in the Government's report concerning the practical application of the Convention. It notes the Government's reference to a Statistical Bulletin for 1991 published by the Ministry of Labour which was not received by the Office. The Government is requested to supply a copy of the Statistical Bulletin with its next report as well as any other statistical information which might be relevant to the practical application of the Convention.

For several years, the Committee has commented that sections 73 and 74 of the Labour Code are not consistent with Articles 1, 3 and 8 of the Convention: section 73 authorizes the employer to refuse leave during one year in certain cases, and section 74 permits workers to postpone leave for three consecutive years so as to accumulate it in the fourth year.

The Committee noted the statement in the Government's report for the period ending 30 June 1990 that the loss of workers' rights to postpone annual leave would not ensure greater protection for them. In its latest report, the Government makes no reference to the application of the above-mentioned Articles of the Convention. In this light, the Committee can only repeat the requirements of the Convention that agricultural workers must be granted a holiday with pay each year of a minimum duration determined in a manner approved by the competent authority; and that any agreement to relinquish the right to such holiday or to forgo it must be void. It recalls that where postponement of annual leave is permitted this should not impinge on the specified minimum part of the holiday which must be granted each year (see paragraphs 177 to 181 of the Committee's General Survey of the Convention in 1964); any other approach would be contrary to the terms of the Convention and to the spirit of the notion of annual holidays.

The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would indicate what measures it proposes to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point; and in what way employers and workers concerned are consulted or participate in this respect (Article 2(3)).