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

Hours of Work and Rest Periods (Road Transport) Convention, 1979 (No. 153) - Uruguay (Ratification: 1989)

The Committee notes the adoption of Decree No. 108/2007 of 22 March 2007 to standardize the work supervision records kept by enterprises in all sectors of activity, and particularly sections 9, 24 and 27 of the Decree which apply the provisions of Article 10 of the Convention.

Article 3. Consultations on rest periods for drivers. The Committee notes the information that a quadripartite committee has been established at the General Inspectorate of Labour and Social Security – composed of members of the National Labour Directorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, organizations of employers and the workers’ union – in order to improve the conditions of work of drivers particularly as regards rest and overtime. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the maximum hours of work of drivers and to send any other relevant information on the work of the quadripartite committee of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the results obtained.

Articles 6 and 8. Averaging of the maximum total driving time and/or of the daily rest. The Committee notes the information sent by the Government to the effect that the General Labour Inspectorate has issued no authorizations regarding overtime since 2005. The Committee recalls that the provisions of the Convention allow the averaging of hours of work and rest over a number of days or weeks, inter alia, to take account of the particular nature of the road transport sector, and asks it to provide information on any decisions taken to this effect or on any clauses in collective agreements allowing the hours of work and rest of drivers to be calculated as an average.

Part IV of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes the information sent by the Government that 89 inspections were carried out in transport enterprises in 2006 and 113 inspections in 2007. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for example, extracts of reports by the labour inspection services indicating the number of infringements reported in the area of hours of work in road transport and the penalties imposed, statistical data on the number of workers covered by the legislation, official studies carried out in the sector, copies of relevant collective agreements, regional initiatives on the harmonization of road transport and any effects they may have had on the application of the Convention, along with any other information enabling the Committee to assess whether the provisions of the Convention are applied effectively.