Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Antigua and Barbuda (Ratification: 1983)

Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s statement in an earlier report that it is not necessary to include labour clauses in public contracts as it is the established practice for contractors of public contracts to offer the same terms and conditions of employment as those generally observed in the trade or industry concerned, and also because the Labour Code provisions relating to basic employment conditions are applicable to workers employed under public contracts. In this regard, the Committee is obliged to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that the Convention calls for specific measures, which may take the form of legislative provisions, administrative instructions or circulars, to ensure the inclusion of appropriate labour clauses in all the public contracts covered by the Convention, and that therefore the application of the Convention by means of current practice or usage is not sufficient to give effect to its substantive requirements. Moreover, the protection provided through labour clauses in public contracts cannot normally be ensured through the application of the general labour legislation only since the minimum standards fixed by law are often improved upon by means of collective bargaining or otherwise. By providing therefore for standard labour clauses in public contracts, the Convention seeks to ensure that workers are entitled to wages and labour conditions which are at least as good as the most favourable of the three alternatives provided for in the Convention, i.e. collective negotiation, arbitration or legislation. The Government is accordingly requested to take all the necessary steps to give full effect to this provision of the Convention and to supply information in its next report of any measures taken to this end.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that for many years the Government has been indicating that there are no legislative changes or other major developments to be reported and consequently no information has been provided on the practical application of the Convention. In this connection, the Committee recalls that under Article 6 of the Convention and Part V of the report form governments are required to give a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied, including, for instance, extracts from official reports, information concerning the number of contracts and workers covered by relevant legislation, etc. The report form, which was adopted by the Governing Body of the ILO, is the main channel through which the Committee may obtain all the necessary information in order to follow the evolution of the national law and practice in matters covered by the Convention. The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would supply in its next report detailed and up-to-date information on the practical application of the Convention, including specimen copies of public contracts, the model text of general specifications or other official tender documents currently in use, information from inspection services on the supervision and enforcement of national legislation and any other particulars bearing on the measures designed to implement the Convention.