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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Malta (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Repetition

Articles 6 and 10 of the Convention. Numbers and conditions of employment of labour inspectors. In reply to the Committees’ previous comments, the Government indicates that steps have been taken by the Department of Industrial Relations to recruit more inspectors and possibly improve working conditions in the inspection services. The Committee recalls that, according to Article 10 of the Convention, the numbers of labour inspectors must be sufficient to secure the effective discharge of the duties of the inspectorate with due regard for the number of work places liable to inspection, the number of workers employed in them, the number and complexity of the legal provisions to be enforced and the practical conditions under which visits of inspection must be carried out in order to be effective. Furthermore, according to Article 6, the inspection staff must be composed of public officials whose status and conditions of service are such that they are assured of stability of employment and are independent of changes of government and of improper external influences. Referring to its General Survey of 2006 on labour inspection, in particular the paragraphs dealing with the conditions of service of labour inspectors (paragraphs 201–224), the Committee again draws the Government’s attention to paragraph 209 in particular, in which it emphasizes that labour inspectors’ salaries should reflect the importance and specificities of their duties and take account of personal merit, and to paragraph 216 in which it expresses the view that career prospects that take into account seniority and personal merit are essential to attract and especially to retain qualified and motivated staff in labour inspectorates. The Committee again asks the Government to take measures without delay to ensure that all vacant inspectorate posts are filled as soon as possible and that the conditions of service of the profession as a whole are reviewed with a view to their upgrading so as to attract and retain sufficient numbers and motivated staff, and expresses the hope that in its next report the Government will be in a position to recount real progress made in these matters.

Articles 9 and 21. Associating technical experts and specialists in the work of inspection, and content of the annual report. The Committee notes the information sent by the Government on the cooperation of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority with other bodies in supervising application of the labour legislation on occupational safety and health. It also notes the statistical information on the number of occupational accidents, the number of workplaces visited and the number of activities conducted by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and the data provided by the inspectorate section on the number of inspections, the number of workers covered and the number and list of shortcomings detected. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on cooperation between the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and the inspectorate section, providing copies of any relevant texts or reports. With reference to its previous comments on the content of the annual labour inspection reports, it again asks the Government to refer to its general observations of 1996, 2007, 2009 and 2010, and to take measures enabling the central inspection authority to publish and communicate to the ILO an annual report containing all the information required by Article 21 of the Convention. In this connection, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to Paragraph 9 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81).

Labour inspection and child labour. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the number of reported cases of violations of the minimum age legislation had dropped from 52 cases in 2005–06 to 24 in 2008–09. The data supplied in the last report show an increase, the number of cases having risen from 24 in 2008–09 to 42 in 2010–11. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to improve the labour inspectorate’s effectiveness in this area. Further to its previous comments, the Committee again asks the Government to provide detailed information on the labour inspection activities carried out in collaboration with the Directorate for Educational Services, and their results.

The Committee expects that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.