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

Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991 (No. 172) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1997)

Article 3 of the Convention. National policy for the hotel and catering industry. The Committee understands that over the past four years there have been tensions in the hotel industry arising from workers’ concerns regarding employment practices in relation to migrant labour. According to information published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, one fourth of the 16,000 workers in the hotel sector are immigrants while 17 per cent of all migrant workers are employed in the hotel and restaurants sector. Trade unions have drawn attention to the foreign labour (including employees from other EU Member States such as Slovakia and Poland) who are increasingly hired at the expense of Cypriot workers, and negatively impact on the prospects and terms and conditions of employment of the domestic labour force, particularly in sectors such as tourism and catering, where seasonal unemployment is high. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed particulars on the situation of migrant workers in the hotel and catering sector and describe how this parameter is addressed in the context of an overall national policy for the improvement of the working conditions in hotels, restaurants and similar establishments.

Article 5, paragraph 1. Compensation for work performed on public holidays. The Committee notes that in September 2006 a new collective agreement was concluded for the hotel sector with the Government’s mediation. The Committee understands, however, that agreement could not be reached on certain non-pay issues which had to be deferred for further consultations, including the manner in which employees should be compensated for work done on Sundays and holidays that coincide with a day off or a weekend. Recalling that the Convention requires appropriate compensation in time or remuneration – as determined by collective bargaining or in accordance with national law and practice – for hotel and restaurant employees who are obliged to work on public holidays, the Committee requests the Government to provide additional explanations and specify whether the consultations following the adoption of the new collective agreement for the hotel sector have been conclusive in this regard.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the statistical information concerning the number of workers employed in the hotel and catering industry as well as the number of inspection visits conducted in places of entertainment, restaurants and catering services in the period 2004–07. The Committee would appreciate if the Government would continue supplying general information on the practical application of the Convention, including for instance statistics on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, if possible broken down by gender and age, labour inspection results, copies of collective agreements currently in force in the hotel and catering sector, extracts from official reports or surveys addressing labour issues in the tourism sector, etc.