Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Workmen's Compensation (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 12) - Panama (Ratification: 1958)

Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report in 2011 concerning the extension of compulsory employment injury insurance to seasonal, non-permanent and occasional agricultural workers. The Government indicates that, under the terms of section 77 of Act No. 51 of 2005, insurance under the Social Insurance Fund is compulsory for all workers who provide services in the country, including agricultural workers. Moreover, section 75 of the General Regulations respecting affiliation and registration, of 2007, as approved by the Executive Board of the Social Insurance Fund, provides that the inclusion of agricultural workers in coverage against employment injury is guaranteed, irrespective of whether their work is seasonal or occasional. Nevertheless, the Committee notes that, under the terms of section 17 of the above Regulations, the requirement for the affiliation of workers in general begins from the time that they start to work for an employer, while in accordance with section 75, the affiliation of seasonal or occasional agricultural workers with the Social Insurance Fund is compulsory on condition that they work for more than one month for an employer, even if the work is not continuous, in the same calendar year, and in the case of workers engaged in the coffee harvest, for at least three months. In this regard, the Committee also notes the allegations made by the Trade Union Convergence Movement to the effect that Convention No. 12 is not applied in large sectors of agriculture, such as in the case of coffee workers, daily workers and in indigenous areas. As a result, agricultural workers are excluded from social security coverage through the wilful omission of their respective employers. In this context, the Committee requests the Government to explain the reasons why the above Regulations establish the requirement of one month (in the case of seasonal or occasional agricultural workers) or three months (in the case of coffee workers) for affiliation to the Social Insurance Fund to become compulsory. It also requests the Government to provide detailed information, including statistics of the inspections carried out in agricultural areas, the contraventions reported and the fines imposed.