Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Colombia (Ratification: 1933)

The Committee notes the Government’s brief report, which merely states that there has been no change in the national legislation.

Article 2 of the Convention. Working hours. The Committee notes the observations from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), dated 18 August 2008 and sent to the Government on 19 September 2008, according to which Act No. 789 of 2002 is contrary to the provisions of the Convention since it prolongs daily working time by four hours, thereby obliging some workers – particularly in commerce – to work ten or even 12 hours per day and without a rest day on Sunday. In this regard, the Committee notes that section 161(d) of the Labour Code – as amended by section 51 of the abovementioned Act – makes provision on the basis of an individual agreement between employer and employee for flexible working hours, which can range from four hours to ten hours per day and be effected without being qualified as overtime between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., six days per week, provided that the average of 48 hours per week is not exceeded. The Committee is bound to remind the Government once again that the Convention only allows the maximum limit on daily working hours to be exceeded in specific conditions laid down by Article 2(b) (distribution of weekly working hours) and Article 2(c) (averaging of hours over a three-week period). Furthermore, the Convention provides for other exceptions to the general rule of eight hours per day and 48 hours per week but only under circumstances strictly defined in Article 2 (accidents, urgent work and force majeure), Article 4 (non-stop factory work), Article 5 (averaging of hours in exceptional cases) and Article 6 (permanent and temporary exceptions). Finally, the Committee emphasizes that exceptions to the eight-hour day necessitate prior consultation of the organizations of employers and workers concerned – or even regulations adopted by the public authority after consultation of the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned – and therefore an individual agreement between employer and employee is in any case not sufficient for authorizing an extension of working hours. In this regard, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to paragraphs 85–168 of the General Survey of 2005 on working hours relating to Conventions Nos 1 and 30, which provides a detailed analysis of the requirements of the Convention regarding the distribution of working hours and authorized exceptions. The Committee therefore requests the Government to revise section 161(d) of the Labour Code in order to bring it into full conformity with the Convention and to keep the Office informed of all progress made on this point.