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

Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137) - Spain (Ratification: 1975)

1. The Committee takes note of the communication, dated 5 September 1989, from the Canary Islands Nationalist Autonomous Confederation (CANC), endorsing the questions raised by a group of dockworkers in a previous communication. The communication alleges that the dockworkers enrolled in the Special Register of Dockworkers of the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas are in a situation which is inconsistent with Convention No. 137 in that they are under the obligation to be present at all calls, yet enjoy no rights corresponding to that obligation. The Office transmitted a copy of the communications to the Government which forwarded its observations dated 15 December 1989.

2. Article 3 of the Convention. In their communication, the workers state that they are enrolled in the "Special Register of Dockworkers of the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas" (RETP), which comes under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The 286 workers involved belong to the category of casual workers: they are not hired by a state company (special labour relationship), or by a non-state port enterprise (common labour relationship). They are merely entitled to enrol in a special register of dockworkers that exists in every "port operated in the general interest". The situation of this group of dockworkers is regulated by the fifth provision of the RETP operation manual whereby Royal Legislative Decree No. 2 of 23 May 1986 concerning public service cargo handling (vessels) is applied in the ports of La Luz and Las Palmas. The Committee notes that the final part of clause 31 of the operation manual establishes that "all workers registered (in the RETP) must be present at the calls, at which they may be designated "incumbents" or "substitutes". Those designated must present themselves at the assigned workpost at the beginning of each shift. The substitutes must wait at the place thus assigned by the State Company, and remain at the disposal of the latter, for the first half-hour of the shift for which they were designated substitutes."

3. As the workers registered in the RETP point out, they are under an obligation to be present at all calls. This practice may be deemed to be consistent with the provision of paragraph 3 of Article 3, which prescribes that "registered dockworkers shall be required to be available for work in a manner to be determined by national law or practice".

4. The workers registered in the RETP add that, if no work is assigned to them, they receive no remuneration whatsoever. They invoke their right to be assured a minimum income or a minimum number of shifts per month, in keeping with their professional conscientiousness and the fact that they are under permanent obligation to be present at all calls. The Government, for its part, admits that as these workers are unemployed, they are seeking to be hired for dock work on the very occasional days when the number of workers needed exceeds the public service's estimate of its requirement for permanent workers. The economic coverage of their situation on the days when they do not work depends on their individual entitlement to unemployment benefit. However, Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention provides that "in any case, dockworkers shall be assured minimum periods of employment or a minimum income, in a manner and to an extent depending on the economic and social situation of the country and port concerned".

5. The Committee refers to its direct request of 1989, in which it asked the Government to state whether unemployment insurance for dockworkers had been regulated in any specific manner and to indicate the scope and nature of the minimum income guaranteed to such workers (Article 2, paragraph 2). In this connection, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate, bearing in mind the arguments submitted by the above-mentioned dockworkers, whether unemployment benefit is granted immediately to all dockworkers to whom it has not been possible to assign work. The Government is also asked to indicate the manner in which it ascertains that the above-mentioned group of dockworkers is covered by appropriate safety, health, welfare and vocational training provisions (Article 6). [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]