Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Canada (Ratification: 1935)

Articles 2, 5 and 6 of the Convention. Basic standard of eight-hour working day and 48-hour working week – Averaging – Overtime. The Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention for several years to inconsistencies between the working time legislation of several provinces and the requirements of the Convention. In its latest report, the Government reiterates the view that the Convention does not reflect modern realities and adds that in a country as vast as Canada, exceptions for specific sectors are necessary. The Committee recognizes that modern flexible working time arrangements tend to call into question the continued relevance of certain provisions of the Convention and that a possible future revision of the Convention would permit to bring the existing system up-to-date and render it more adaptable to labour market needs and employers’ and workers’ preferences. At present, however, the Committee is mandated to examine the legislative conformity of national laws and regulations with the letter and the spirit of the Convention, and in discharging this responsibility the Committee is obliged to raise the following points. First, the Committee recalls that in some provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) there is no maximum limit on either daily or weekly hours of work while in others (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island) there is no limit on daily hours of work. In addition, the Committee notes that a number of provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon) allow for the uneven distribution of working hours within the same week without limiting however the daily hours of work in this case to nine hours, as prescribed by the Convention. Moreover, the Committee notes that in many jurisdictions (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nunavut, Quebec and Saskatchewan) the averaging of hours of work is generally authorized and therefore not limited in exceptional cases, as required under the Convention. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that in certain provinces (Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Quebec and Saskatchewan) there are no legal provisions restricting recourse to overtime to the limited cases provided for in the Convention. While noting the Government’s indication that none of the provincial governments are planning to amend existing working time legislation with a view to bringing it in line with the Convention, the Committee hopes that the Government will duly consider the above observations and examine, in consultation with the social partners, suitable follow-up action.