Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)

Other comments on C094

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 2 of the Convention. Insertion of labour clauses in public contracts. The Committee notes the adoption of the Standards Bidding Documents – Procurement of Works (Selective Tendering) in April 2010 as well as the adoption of the four-volume Revised Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures (RHPP) in October 2010. However, the Committee notes with regret that these voluminous and detailed texts contain no reference whatsoever to the working conditions of workers employed under public contracts nor do they provide for labour clauses of the type prescribed by the Convention. Despite the specific guidance given by the Committee in its previous comments, the Government has not taken any steps to effectively implement the Convention either through the RHPP, which were being elaborated since 2008, or through the Procurement Regulations prepared under the Contactor General Act. The Committee is therefore obliged to conclude that at present the Convention is not given effect in either law or practice.

The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention once again to the basic purpose of the Convention which is to ensure that the workers employed for the execution of public contracts enjoy wages and other working conditions at least as satisfactory as those normally established for the type of work concerned, whether they are established by collective agreement or otherwise, in the locality where the work is done. The Convention requires that this be done through the insertion of appropriate labour clauses in public contracts. This has the effect of setting as minimum conditions for the contract standards that are already established within the locality. The further aim is that local standards higher than those of general application (this in practice means the most advantageous labour conditions) should be applied, where they exist. In fact, the type of labour clauses prescribed by this Article of the Convention seek to oblige the contractor to apply the most advantageous pay rates, including overtime pay, and other working conditions, such as work hour limits and holiday entitlement, established in the industrial sector and geographical region in question. Recalling that the inclusion of appropriate labour clauses in all public contracts covered by the Convention does not necessarily require the enactment of new legislation but can be also realized by administrative instructions or circulars, the Committee hopes that the Government will take all necessary measures without further delay in order to bring the national legislation into conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2013.]