Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) - Brazil (Ratification: 2006)

Communication from the Union of Workers in the Lumber, Civil Construction and Furniture Industries of Altamira and the Surrounding Region (SINTICMA). The Committee notes that the Government’s report, received on 2 November 2010, arrived too late to be examined at the current session. The Committee also notes the communication by SINTICMA, sent to the Government on 12 April 2010. The Committee notes that the Government has not sent its comments concerning this communication. The Committee also notes that, according to SINTICMA, enterprises operating in the region do not comply with the labour legislation concerning the documentation of workers, that the working conditions on the sites are subhuman and that the workers enjoy none of the rights guaranteed by the legislation. It maintains that the enterprises enslave workers in conditions of urban slavery, that many of them suffer accidents at work and that no inspections are carried out in these towns. It indicates that there is one Ministry of Labour and Employment assistance post for 40,000 workers seeking help who are from ten towns in the trans-Amazonian region. It indicates that the labour inspectorate is unable to monitor these enterprises because the work is temporary and it only visits the region every two or three years. It maintains that this situation also exists in the lumber industry, which has even more difficulties than the civil construction sector. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the application of the Convention to workers in the informal economy, including the workers in the region mentioned in the communication. Noting that the Government’s report does not reply fully to the questions raised in its previous comments concerning the application of the Convention to the informal sector, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in reply to those comments, in particular on the manner in which those workers are taken into account for the purposes of: (a) developing policies for the construction sector; (b) recording occupational accidents; and (c) training. Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide its comments on the communication submitted by SINTICMA so that the Committee can examine them at its next meeting, together with the Government’s report.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2011.]