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

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1994)

The Committee notes the comments made by the Indigenous and Rural Workers’ Trade Union Movement of Guatemala (MSICG), sent to the Government by the Office on 15 September 2010. The Committee asks the Government to refer to its comments under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), in so far as they also concern the application of this Convention. The MSICG asserts that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has refused to supervise compliance with the legislation in more than 90 plantations about which there have been complaints, or to establish coordination with the organization for that purpose. The MSICG also alleges that the Ministry has refused to carry out visits to verify the violations of freedom of association and other labour rights, such as payment of minimum wages, that the organization has itself reported since 2008 in connection with 71 plantations. The MSICG further alleges that the Ministry published the whereabouts of the offending workplaces and some of the issues which were to be checked. According to the MSICG, in most cases the inspectors did not visit the plantations, and when they did, they met only with the employers.

Articles 3, 4, 6(1)(a) and (b), 9(3), 15 and 21, 27(d) and (e). Supervision of working and living conditions in agricultural undertakings, training of labour inspectors in agriculture, financial resources and transport facilities available to inspectors in agriculture. The Committee notes the tables pertaining to the operational plans for ex officio inspection visits conducted in plantations located in various jurisdictions in the period 2009–11. It notes with interest that owing to the food crisis prevailing in some departments in Guatemala, the labour inspectorate devised a programme for support to the national food security policy, which consisted of operations to verify compliance with the law in agricultural and agro-export undertakings, the aim being to secure their compliance with the requirement to pay the minimum wage and other statutory benefits so that workers and their families are able to afford the basic food basket. It also notes a number of operational plans showing schedules of inspection visits for the agricultural sector which appear to pertain to the period 2008–10. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide general information on inspections carried out for the purposes of supervision and provision of technical information and advice in agricultural undertakings including banana plantations, and the results of these visits, including supervision of compliance with the legal provisions pertaining to freedom of association, the penalties imposed and their execution. The Committee also once again asks the Government to indicate whether labour inspectors have verified the evolution in working conditions in the agricultural undertakings covered by the collective labour agreements sent to the Office, which expired in 2008 and 2009.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results of the operations conducted in support of the national food security policy, specifying the contraventions reported and the penalties imposed. Lastly, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would specify the criteria taken into account in scheduling regular inspection visits to agricultural undertakings and would indicate the frequency with which scheduled regular visits are carried out in one and the same undertaking, and the scope of such visits.

With regard to its comments of 2009 on special training for inspectors in agriculture, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that the purpose of the training activities is to provide inspectors with varied training as part of a diploma course, the training being provided with the cooperation and support of a foundation and other institutions. The Government also mentions a masters course in the administration of human resources and labour legislation, which ended in 2009 and which was organized thanks to an agreement concluded with the Universidad Galileo de Guatemala. The Committee notes that according to the table included in the Government’s report, the one-day training courses organized for labour inspectors between August 2009 and January 2010 covered the following topics, in particular: the basics of administration; work ethics; service to users, mercantile law and notarial law.

With regard to the financial and material resources available to inspectors in agriculture, the Committee observes that the General Labour Inspectorate has to apply to the Ministry’s financial authorities for the resources, official vehicles and fuel needed for each inspection campaign.

The Committee stresses that the specific nature of work in the agricultural sector involves specific risks for the workers (for example, risks related to the handling and use of chemicals and agricultural machinery), and requires special skills that labour inspectors must be able to acquire or perfect through appropriate training (Article 9(3)), transport facilities that take account of the distance and remote location of agricultural undertakings, and adequate equipment for measurement and analysis (Article 15). The Committee requests the Government to adopt the necessary measurements without delay to ensure that labour inspectors in agriculture receive initial training and further training suited to the duties they perform and which covers the human, environmental and technical aspects of their work, and requests it to report to the Office any progress made in this regard. It would also be grateful if the Government would: (i) describe the transport facilities assigned specifically to labour inspectors in agriculture (indicating their geographical distribution); (ii) explain the procedure for refunding to labour inspectors in agriculture the travel costs incurred in the performance of their duties and to provide a copy of the relevant claim form. The Committee again asks the Government to send any documents illustrating the manner in which inspection visits are carried out in agricultural undertakings (standard form, records of inspections, etc.).

Articles 6(1)(a), 12(1), 15 and 16(1)(c)(iii). Inter-institutional cooperation in the area of preventive control. The Committee notes that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS) have signed an inter-institutional agreement for joint inspections. The agreement provides that the schedule of joint inspection visits shall be set giving priority to areas which, according to a preliminary study, show a higher incidence of problems in worker–employer relations, social welfare, occupational safety and health and compliance with labour provisions in general, with an emphasis on the payment of IGSS contributions. Noting that approval from the Board of the IGSS was required in order to execute the agreement, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether such approval was obtained. Furthermore, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide specific quantitative information on the joint inspection visits eventually held in this context, particularly in agricultural undertakings, indicating the number of undertakings concerned, the number of workers they employ, and the contraventions reported (indicating the legal provisions concerned).

Noting that the Government has not replied to the request the Committee made in 2009 regarding inspectors’ participation in preventive controls, the Committee again asks the Government to send with its next report copies of the relevant legal provisions together with any other document relating to this matter, including statistics, and of the recommendations made by the IGSS, the measures ordered and the court proceedings initiated in this context.

Article 19(1). Notification to labour inspectors of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee notes with interest that since 2010 the General Labour Inspectorate has had an electronic labour information system (SIL), in which all the particulars of employers are recorded. According to the Government, this is to serve as a base for compiling data, including notifications of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease in agriculture, and is to be supplemented in accordance with instructions issued by the General Directorate of Social Welfare, with technical advice from the ILO. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on all progress made in setting up the register of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease and in making it available to labour inspectors in the various regions of the country so that they may use it as a basis in performing their preventive duties.

Articles 26 and 27. Annual report on the work of the labour inspection services in agriculture. The Committee notes that the annual labour inspection report has not been sent. It requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the SIL and the register of enterprises on the efforts made by the central authority to comply with its obligation under Articles 26 and 27 to publish, as a separate report or as part of its general annual report, and to communicate to the Office, an annual report on the work of the labour inspection services in agriculture, within the time limit prescribed under Article 26, and which contains information on each and every one of the items listed at Article 27. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the useful guidance contained in the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133), as to the amount of detail and the presentation of the information to be included in the annual inspection report.