Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) - Algeria (Ratification: 2006)

The Committee notes the observations made by the General and Autonomous Confederation of Workers in Algeria (CGATA) in a communication received on 9 June 2015.

Articles 1(1)(b), 11, 12 and 13 of the Convention. Services provided by the agencies covered by the Convention. Allocation of responsibilities in relation to the protection of workers. Effective cooperation between the public employment services and private employment agencies. The CGATA indicates that, unlike Executive Decree No. 07-123 of 24 April 2007 that restricts, in its section 2, private employment agencies from placing workers in a user enterprise, the draft Labour Code authorizes such placements in the framework of temporary agency work (section 390). The CGATA also notes that in practice such placements occur within the framework of outsourcing agreements when enterprises conclude service agreements, thereby avoiding the provisions and obligations under Convention No. 181. The CGATA further indicates that the relevant legislation does not regulate the distribution of remuneration between workers and subcontractors, which may give rise to brokering, which is expressly forbidden under section 141 of the draft Labour Code, which defines brokering as: “any act performed by a natural or legal person with a view to placing a worker at the disposal of a third party in exchange for profit arising from the difference between the amount it receives from the third party for that purpose and the wages actually paid to the worker”. The CGATA also points out that the draft Labour Code reduces to five days the delay granted to employment agencies to satisfy the offer of employment which, given the delays observed in excess of the current 21-day period may lead to an increased number of abuses. The Government indicates in its report that approved private agencies which conclude an agreement with the National Employment Agency (ANEM) have to subscribe to model terms of reference, established by regulation. The Government adds that the agreements determine, among other matters, the territorial coverage and field of activity in which the beneficiaries of the agreement with the ANEM have to act, the obligations of the parties and the human and technical resources of the beneficiary agencies. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how the current and draft legislation avoids blurring temporary agency worker and subcontracted worker status and, more generally, how the draft legislation, once adopted, will ensure adequate protection for the workers of temporary employment agencies supplied to user enterprises. The Committee also once again requests the Government to provide specific examples of the information supplied to the ANEM by private employment agencies and to specify both the nature and frequency with which information is made available to the public. The Government is requested to provide information on the qualifications of jobseekers, the occupational sectors concerned and their geographical distribution, and on the nature and extent of support measures for finding employment.

Article 5(1). Measures to promote equality. The Government refers to the legislative texts and regulations setting out the principle of non-discrimination, and the bodies responsible for their enforcement. The Committee refers once again to the comments that it has been making for several years on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and recalls that certain grounds of discrimination, such as race, colour, religion and national extraction, are not covered by the current Labour Code. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the measures taken to ensure that private employment agencies do not subject workers to any of the types of discrimination covered by the Convention.

Article 5(2). Special services to assist the most disadvantaged workers. The Committee reiterates the request made to the Government to provide information on the special services or targeted programmes designed by private employment agencies to assist the most disadvantaged workers in their jobseeking activities.

Article 8. Protection of migrant workers. The Government reiterates that approved private employment agencies are not authorized to place national jobseekers in work aboard or foreign jobseekers in work in Algeria. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure adequate protection and to prevent the abuse of migrant workers recruited to work in the country.

Article 10. Complaints. The Government indicates that all citizens may lodge a complaint concerning the activities of employment agencies with the wilaya employment directorates or the wilaya labour inspection services. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information illustrating how the procedures in force result in the effective examination of alleged abuses and fraudulent practices relating to the activities of private employment agencies, with an indication of the nature and number of the complaints received, and the manner in which they have been resolved.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2017.]