Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Morocco (Ratification: 1979)

The Committee also refers the Government to its comments under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) in so far as they also concern the application of the present Convention.

Article 9 of the Convention. Specific training for agricultural labour inspectors. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to training sessions for all labour inspectors concerning the fundamental labour rights and principles, noted by the Committee under Convention No. 81. The Committee notes, however, that the Government has not provided any information on occupational training for labour inspectors specifically on subjects related to agriculture. The Committee therefore, once again, asks the Government to provide detailed information on the training provided to inspectors for performing their duties in agricultural undertakings. It also asks it to take steps to ensure that those inspectors receive in-service training in supervision of conditions of work in agriculture (safety and health as they relate to risks inherent in the use of phytosanitary products, proximity to domestic and other animals, quality of drinking water, use of certain agricultural tools and machinery, and so forth), so that these inspectors are in a position to pass on relevant information and technical advice to employers and workers in agriculture and to members of their families living in the agricultural undertakings.

Article 6(1)(a), 13 and 17. Supervisory activities of inspectors in agriculture and action taken on safety and health injunctions and breaches of the legislation. The Committee notes the statistics provided in the 2013 annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate, according to which the number of inspection visits in agriculture has increased (from 1,069 visits in 2010 to 1,224 visits in 2013). The Committee notes, however, that the number of non-compliance reports remains low (13 non-compliance reports were produced in 2013 against 35,563 observations on the application of the legislation and 449 violations noted). It further notes that no information has been provided on the other measures that labour inspectors may have taken in accordance with the law. In this regard, it notes that no information is available on the initiation of summary proceedings for failure to execute injunctions issued to eliminate risk to the workers’ safety and health (section 543 of the Labour Code) nor is there information on whether there are any recommendations (section 545 of the Code) for the prosecution of employers in breach of the regulations or an order to take preventive action, (with a view to imposing on them the penalties laid down in section 300 of the Labour Code and section 324 of the Penal Code.). The Committee refers to its observation under Convention No. 81 concerning the need to guarantee labour inspectors working conditions that ensure their independence, free of any improper external influences. Furthermore, it would be grateful if the Government would ensure that information on the results of the exercise of their powers of injunction and of legal proceedings, as defined in the above legislation, are contained in the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate.

Articles 26 and 27. Content of the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate in agricultural undertakings. The Committee welcomes the fact that the annual reports on the work of the labour inspectorate for 2012 and 2013 include a section on the activities of the labour inspectorate in agriculture. The Committee notes, however, that these reports do not contain statistical information on agricultural undertakings liable to inspection visits and on the number of persons working therein (Article 27(c)), or on occupational accidents and diseases and their causes (Article 27(f) and (g)). Having previously noted that files on agricultural and forestry undertakings and their dependencies were available at the district level and noting the Government’s reference to the registration and updating of the number of enterprises covered by each employment delegation in 2013, the Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to ensure that the statistical information on the agricultural undertakings liable to inspection is included in the next annual reports. The Committee asks the Government to ensure that the central labour inspection authority continues to publish and transmit to the ILO an annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate in agriculture, either in the form of a separate report or as part of its annual general report. It asks it to ensure that comprehensive information on labour inspection in agriculture concerning all the subjects enumerated in Article 27(a)–(g) is included.