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

Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - Antigua and Barbuda (Ratification: 2002)

The Committee notes the Government’s first report covering the period from June 2005 to June 2007 as well as the report received on 28 August 2009 which does not contain the information requested by the ILO by letter of 29 September 2008. The Committee notes with interest that the Government had requested in 2004 a review by the Office of the functions and organizational structure of the Department of Labour with a view to restructuring the Department for more comprehensive and effective labour administration services, within the framework of the reform of the public sector. This assessment took place in November 2004 and a number of recommendations were issued in February 2005. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on any follow‑up actions undertaken following such review and particularly information on the following points:

(1)   financial resources (i.e. proportion of the national budget allocated to the operation of the system of labour administration) and material means (transport facilities, office equipment, etc.) allocated to the staff for the performance of their duties;

(2)   staff of the labour administration system: (i) staff numbers; (ii) status (recruitment, conditions of service, independence, access to training, etc.); and (iii) impact of the ongoing public sector reform on such status, including any developments with regard to a possible integration of the “non-established” workers into the established staff structure.

(3)   organization and coordination of the system of labour administration: (i) administrative structures and bodies at the central and decentralized levels and their respective functions; and (ii) competent body or structure responsible for the coordination of such functions;

(4)   competent bodies within the system of labour administration whose functions are: (i) the preparation, administration, coordination, checking and review of a national employment policy; (ii) the study of the situation of employed, unemployed and underemployed persons and the identification of defects or abuses in conditions of work and of appropriate remedies; and (iii) the provision of services to employers and workers and their organizations with a view to promoting effective consultation and cooperation between public authorities and bodies and such organizations, as well as between such organizations; and operation of such bodies in practice;

(5)   practical measures taken to ensure consultation, cooperation and negotiation between the public authorities and the most representative organizations of employers and workers or employers’ and workers’ representatives, including tripartite bodies or structures within administrative entities set up to ensure tripartite relations within the system of labour administration (such as the National Advisory Board and the National Economic and Social Council); and details on the matters addressed during the period covered by the next Government’s report as well as on the results achieved.

The Committee also requests the Government to provide a copy of any reports or extracts thereof illustrating the operation and coordination in practice of the labour administration system, including reports of any tripartite body entrusted with labour administration activities.