Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee notes the Government's report and the information supplied in reply to its previous direct request. With reference to its comments on the application of the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), the Committee recalls the need to modify section 122 of the Labour Code, which stipulates that a working day including additional hours may not exceed 12 hours. The Committee once more wishes to recall that the exceptions provided for under Article 7 of the Convention, must remain within reasonable limits, and that the authorization of four additional hours of work a day, without providing other guarantees, such as a monthly or annual limit, greatly exceeds the exceptions authorized by the Convention and is clearly contrary to the spirit in which the latter was drafted. The Government indicates in its report on the application of the Convention that, in response to the Committee's comments, it will take steps necessary to establish, after consultation with the employers' and workers' representative organizations, the circumstances in which recourse may be made to additional hours of work, and also the maximum number of additional hours which may be authorized in each case. The Committee hopes that these steps will be taken in the near future and requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of all progress achieved in this connection.

Furthermore, the Committee refers to its observation of 1981, in which it noted that the Government Decision No. 6-80 of 9 May 1980 gave effect to the provisions of the Convention by fixing a reasonable annual limit to the number of additional hours authorized. It reiterates its request for clarification of the legal situation resulting from the application of Decision No. 6-80, and of section 122 of the Labour Code to workers covered by the Convention.