Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Yemen (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report does not reply to its previous comment. It is therefore bound to raise the issues already mentioned. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the Rest Periods and Official Holidays Act, No. 2 of 2000, to which it refers in its report but which is not available to the Office.

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the legal provisions on the weekly rest period that are applicable to occasional workers, and to indicate whether a decree issued by the Council of Ministers has extended the application of the Labour Code to this category of workers in accordance with section 4 of the Labour Code. Furthermore, as foreign nationals seconded to work in the State of Yemen and those who work on its territory under an international agreement are excluded from the scope of application of the Labour Code, under the terms of section 3, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether this exclusion extends to workers employed in industrial undertakings within the meaning of the Convention.

Article 3. Exceptions. Employees who are members of the same family. The Committee notes that, under section 3 of the Labour Code, its provisions do not apply to members of the employer’s family who are effectively his dependants, regardless of their degree of kinship. It recalls that, by virtue of Article 3 of the Convention, such an exception is only possible for persons employed in industrial undertakings in which only the members of one single family are employed. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to provide additional explanations in this regard.

Article 4. Total or partial exceptions. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate whether consultations were held with employers’ and workers’ organizations prior to the adoption of section 74(1) of the Labour Code, under which workers may be employed on weekly rest days where necessary under certain circumstances. The Committee also draws the Government’s attention to the importance of the weekly rest period, granted regularly and in an uninterrupted manner, for the protection of workers’ health. It therefore requests the Government to indicate the manner in which it is ensured that social and humanitarian considerations, and not only economic considerations, are taken into account in the context of the application of section 74(1) of the Labour Code.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice including, for instance, extracts from reports of the inspection services and, if such statistics are available, information on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, the number and nature of the contraventions reported and the measures adopted as a result.

Finally, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, based on the conclusions and proposals of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided that the ratification of up to date Conventions, including the Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14), and the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106), should be encouraged because they continue to respond to current needs (see GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraphs 17–18). The Committee accordingly invites the Government to envisage ratifying Convention No. 106 and to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this respect.