Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Cameroon (Ratification: 1962)

The ILO received on 23 November 2006, the Government’s reply to observations from the General Union of Cameroon Workers (UGTC) dated 30 August 2006 which the Committee had examined at its previous session. The Committee notes that new observations reached the ILO from the UGTC on 21 August 2007 and from the Confederation of Labour – Liberty of Cameroon (CGTL) on 12 September 2007. The Committee notes that the observations from these organizations, which the ILO sent to the Government in September 2007, largely concern matters raised in the Committee’s observation of 2006. The Committee hopes that the Government will reply to the latter observation in its report due in 2008.

1. Articles 1, 6, 10, 11, 13, 16, 20 and 21 of the Convention. Insufficient staff, pay conditions and means of action of labour inspectors. Annual report on the work of the inspectorate. Inefficient and deteriorating inspection system. In reply to the UGTC’s observations of 2006 on the lack of inspectors and material facilities, the Government indicates that the inspectorate works in all ten provinces of the country and that the new organizational chart of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security provides for inspection services to be established in the departments and in certain districts with a high concentration of labour. Furthermore, five competitions have been held to recruit staff for the labour and social security corps. Only the provincial labour delegates have service vehicles because resources are lacking. In its communication of August 2007, the UGTC again emphasizes the lack of staff and the total absence of material facilities in the premises that house inspectors. The Committee also notes the observations from the CGTL, which raise a matter addressed in 2004 by the Confederation of Public Service Unions (CSP), namely that inspectors’ conditions of service and pay expose them to the influence of employers and weaken their authority to issue injunctions. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position in its next report to provide information on progress, particularly regarding the staff and means of action of the inspectorate and the organization and working of the inspection system. Please indicate in particular the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that labour inspectors are independent of all improper external influence.

The Committee also urges the Government to take measures to ensure that an annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate, containing all available information on the subjects listed at Article 21 of the Convention, is published and sent to the ILO, in accordance with Article 20. The Committee would be grateful if, to this end, the Government would take measures without delay for defining a method for uniform collection and processing of relevant information, and keep the ILO informed of progress in this regard.

Lastly, the Government is also asked to provide information on the results of the reading of the text on the supervisory powers of labour inspectors which, according to the Government’s statement in 2005, had been submitted to the National Labour Advisory Committee.

2. Article 5(b). Collaboration between labour inspection officials and the social partners. In its observations sent in August 2007, the UGTC asserts that there is no cooperation at all between labour inspectors, employers and workers. The Committee refers the Government to its previous comment on this matter in which it noted that the Labour Code does not deal with the issue of cooperation in labour inspection, and draws the Government’s attention to Part II of Recommendation No. 81, which provides useful guidelines on the nature and type of measures that might be taken to encourage such collaboration, with the employers too, in the area of occupational safety and health. It would be grateful if, in consultation with the employers and workers, the Government would entertain the possibility of implementing such measures, and asks it to keep the ILO informed of the results of such collaboration.