Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Article 1 of the Convention. Forty-hour week. Averaging of the hours of work. The Committee notes that, while section 50 of the Labour Code limits the normal hours of work to 40 hours per week, section 61 of the Labour Code allows employers, after consulting the trade union representatives, to calculate hours of work as an average in enterprises operating continuously, as well as in certain establishments and for certain types of work, where it is not possible, due to exceptional circumstances, to respect the normal daily or weekly limits on hours of work. It notes that, in such cases, the average weekly hours of work during the chosen reference period may not exceed 40 hours. The Committee notes, however, that the Labour Code establishes no absolute limit on the daily or weekly hours of work in the context of such working time arrangements and that it does not lay down a maximum duration with regard to the reference period (for example, three months). It draws the Government’s attention to the negative effects that an excessively long working day or working week can have on the health of workers and on the balance between their private life and work. In this regard, it refers to the provisions of the Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendation, 1962 (No. 116), which is designed to supplement and facilitate the application of the Convention and which provides, in Paragraph 12(2) that the competent national authorities should fix the maximum length of the period over which the hours of work may be averaged. Noting that the provisions of the Labour Code are too vague on this point, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the working time arrangements established under section 61 of the Labour Code, including details on the number of workers and the type of enterprises concerned. The Government is also requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to limit the weekly and daily hours of work, as well as the reference period, in the context of such arrangements.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the information included in the Government’s report that in 2007, the labour inspection services carried out 44,644 inspections in 34,166 establishments. It notes that these inspections resulted in 158,754 violations of the labour legislation being reported, of which 26,618 concerned issues relating to working time. Taking into account the high number of reported violations of the labour legislation, in particular with regard to working time, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the results of the activities of the labour inspectorate, in particular with regard to measures taken to reduce the number of violations of the provisions of the Labour Code with regard to hours of work. The Government is also requested to provide information on the categories and number of workers to whom the principle of the 40-hour week has been applied and the number of hours of overtime worked by these workers beyond the 40-hour week; the categories and number of workers to whom the principle of the 40-hour week has not yet been applied and the normal hours of work of these workers, as well as the number of hours of overtime worked; copies of studies or official reports on issues relating to working time, especially the reduction of hours of work linked to new technologies or as an employment policy tool, particularly in the context of the current global economic crisis; and finally, information on the working time arrangements provided for under recent collective agreements.