Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991 (No. 172) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1997)

Article 3(1) of the Convention. Policy designed to improve the working conditions of hotel and restaurant workers. The Committee, in its previous comments, requested the Government to indicate the manner in which migrant workers who are not permitted to form trade unions may nevertheless benefit from the same conditions of work that are contained in the 2013–14 collective agreement for the hotel industry. In this respect, the Committee takes note of the Strategy for the Employment of Foreign Manpower, which regulates the entry of third country nationals with a temporary work permit issued for a specific employer and specific type of work. The Government indicates that, although employees, including migrant workers, who are not trade union members are not covered by the collective agreement, they have individual contracts with their employers. More specifically, according to the provisions of the Strategy for the Employment of Foreign Manpower and the Aliens and Immigration Law, a contract is always signed between the employer and the migrant worker that is ratified by the Department of Labour to ensure the basic rights of the third country national based on the Employment Law and the relevant collective agreements, where these exist. The Committee notes that according to the Strategy for the Employment of Foreign Manpower, no employer will be granted permission to employ a third country national with a temporary work permit unless they comply with the provisions of the Employment Law and the collective agreements where they exist. The Government also indicates that migrant workers’ rights are protected by the Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation Law of 2004, which prohibits any discrimination in terms of employment because of the employees’ nationality. As for the implementation during 2013–14 of the new “Scheme providing incentives for hiring the unemployed in the Hotel, Food and general Tourism Industry”, the Committee notes that 1,257 people were employed by 181 enterprises under this framework. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on the implementation of the overall national policy for the improvement of the working conditions in hotels, restaurants and similar establishments and its impact, including on migrant workers employed in the sector. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information regarding developments in relation to the implementation of the Strategy for the Employment of Foreign Manpower.