Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1988)

Articles 2 and 6 of the Convention. Work in excess of normal hours of work – Overtime hours. The Committee notes the observations made by the Trade Union of Plant and Well Operators and Guards of the Municipal Water Company and Allied Workers (SITOPGEMA), made in a communication received on 2 October 2012 and transmitted to the Government on 12 October 2012, concerning the application of the Convention. It notes that these observations follow up on those previously made by SITOPGEMA concerning the situation of workers at the Municipal Water Company of Guatemala City (EMPAGUA), who alternate work periods of 24 consecutive hours with rest periods of 48 consecutive hours without being paid for the overtime that they work. SITOPGEMA points out that decision No. 1088-2004-561 of 16 April 2008 of the labour and social insurance tribunal, which rejected the demand made by the workers concerned and to which the Committee referred in its observation of 2008, has since been overturned by the appeal court and the other courts concerned, and so the right of these workers to be paid for the overtime worked is thus recognized definitively. However, the union adds that new procedures for implementing this decision and calculating the exact amounts owed are being examined in the national courts and consequently the demand first put forward by SITOPGEMA more than ten years ago has still not been settled. The Committee requests the Government to provide any comments that it wishes to make in response to the observations made by SITOPGEMA and to reply in detail to its observation of 2009.

The Committee also notes the observations made by the Indigenous and Rural Workers’ Trade Union Movement of Guatemala (MSICG), in a communication received on 10 September 2012 and transmitted to the Government on 28 September 2012, which refer to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), but also have some relevance with regard to the application of Convention No. 1. The MSICG states, in particular, that textile industry employees in the maquila (export processing) sector are obliged to work more than 12 hours a day, without the labour inspection services taking any steps to prevent employers from imposing working days whose length exceeds legal limits. The Committee requests the Government to provide any comments it wishes to make in reply to the observations of the MSICG.