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

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Estonia (Ratification: 1923)

Article 4 of the Convention. Section 21(4) of the Working and Rest Time Act of 2001 authorizes, as was already the case in section 28(4) of the Working and Rest Time Act of 1993, that exceptions to the general weekly rest scheme may be made with the agreement of the labour inspection of the location of the employer. The Government has indicated that, in granting any exceptions, the labour inspector has to respect a cooperation agreement signed by the Trade Union Association and the National Labour Inspectorate in 1998 stipulating that the labour inspector should ask the trade union in question for additional information concerning circumstances on possible exceptions.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government provided it with a copy of the cooperation agreement.

Article 5 of the Convention. In its previous direct request, the Committee has pointed out that Estonian legislation provides alternatively for compensatory rest or higher remuneration for persons working on weekly rest days, while the Convention is asking, as far as possible, for compensatory periods. The Committee notes with interest that the new Working and Rest Time Act of 2001 provides under section 21(4) that, irrespective of exceptions to the general weekly rest of 36 consecutive hours, a minimum weekly rest of 24 consecutive hours is obligatory.

Article 6 of the Convention. The Committee invites the Government to communicate, in so far as possible, a list of the exceptions to the provisions of Article 2 authorized in accordance with Article 4.