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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Brazil (Ratification: 1989)

The Committee notes the Government's brief report and the indication that the Ministry of Labour is being reorganized and that the Government intends to implement the recommendations made in the Study on Labour Inspection in Brazil. It notes with interest that the Government is endeavouring to modernize the inspection services and has requested ILO technical assistance for this purpose; that the labour inspectors who had been removed from their original functions have now been placed back in their former posts; that inspectors' wages have increased; and that the provision under which enterprises with fewer than ten workers were not subject to inspection has been repealed. It notes, however, that stringent measures must be taken to deal with acts of aggression against inspectors.

The Committee hopes that the Government's next report will contain complete information on the observations, a copy of which was sent to it along with a letter of 4 May 1992, made by the Association of Labour Inspector Agents of Minas Gerais (AAIT/MG), the National Union of Labour Inspection Agents (SINAIT) and the Gaucha Association of Labour Inspectors (AGITRA) concerning the application of the Convention, and on the points still requiring an answer raised in its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee has noted the information in the Government's first report on the Convention. It has also noted the observations of the Gaucha Association of Labour Inspectors (AGITRA), concerning difficulties encountered by the labour inspection service in regard to various aspects of the Convention. AGITRA indicates that the activities of the labour inspectorate have decreased since 1990, particularly since many posts of labour assessors, doctors and engineers were abolished. This has meant that labour inspectors have had to work in precarious conditions, contrary to the Convention. Inspectors have thus not been able to combat as they would wish serious violations of labour law in respect of slavery and forced labour (including child labour), and withholding of wages and other benefits due to employees (such as adequate food and lodging). This in turn means that, particularly in the present unstable economic situation in the country, the number of violations of labour legislation is increasing dramatically.

The Committee recalls the requirements of the Convention as regards the function of labour inspectors in securing the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers, such as provisions relating to hours, wages, safety, health and welfare, and the employment of children and young persons (Article 3(1)(a)); the need for inspection staff to enjoy a status and conditions of service which guarantee them the necessary stability of employment and independence (Article 6); the need to associate medical, engineering and other specialists in the work of inspection (Article 9); and the need to ensure that the number and material conditions of labour inspectors are sufficient to enable workplaces to be inspected as often and as thoroughly as necessary to ensure the effective application of relevant legal provisions (Articles 10, 11 and 16).

The Committee is raising certain other points in a direct request.