Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee noted with regret that no measures have yet been taken to give effect to the following provisions of the Convention, which have been the subject of comments for many years.

1. Private sector

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. In its previous reports the Government had mentioned draft labour legislation which would cover temporary workers and workers in small undertakings. These workers are not covered by the 1964 Labour Act which is now in force. The Committee requests the Government to communicate information on the present state of this draft.

Articles 6(1(b) and 2) of the Convention. The Government has repeated its previous position according to which the fixing of a limit of two hours of supplementary work per day to meet extraordinary increases in workload is sufficient to give effect to these provisions of the Convention. The national legislation also limits to two hours per day recourse to supplementary hours in case of serious accidents which are imminent or which have taken place, to repair the damage caused by such accidents, or to avoid certain losses. While the Convention does not provide for limits to be set for such cases, which are contemplated in its Article 3, it does provide for instance under Article 6, paragraph 1(b), for recourse to supplementary hours so that establishments may deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work, and paragraph 2 of that Article requires that the maximum number of additional hours be fixed. The limit of two hours per day fixed by the Government might imply considerably too many weekly or annual working hours which, in the Committee's opinion, could be in direct contradiction to the spirit in which this Convention was drafted (see in this connection the Committee's 1967 general survey on this instrument, International Labour Conference, 51st Session, 1967, Report III (Part IV), third part, paragraph 239). The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would take the measures necessary to fix a reasonable monthly or annual limit in this case, in conformity with the Convention's objectives.

2. Public sector

Article 6, paragraph 1(b). As the Committee has already pointed out in previous comments, Ministerial Order No. 34 of 1977 with respect to overtime in the public sector does not determine with sufficient precision the conditions and limits on the authorization of exceptions to normal working hours. It recalls that such exceptions must remain within limits which are in conformity with the Convention's objectives. The Committee therefore again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to determine the conditions under which recourse to overtime is permitted, and to fix a reasonable annual or monthly limit on the number of additional hours which may be authorized.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.