Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2009, Publicación: 99ª reunión CIT (2010)

Convenio sobre las horas de trabajo (comercio y oficinas), 1930 (núm. 30) - Bolivia (Estado Plurinacional de) (Ratificación : 1973)

Article 7, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention. Permanent exceptions – intermittent work. The Committee notes the adoption of the new national Constitution on 7 February 2009, which implies the modification of many legislative texts, including the General Labour Act, which is under preparation. Further to its previous comment concerning intermittent work, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that, under the terms of section 46 of the General Labour Act and its implementing Decree No. 244 of 1943, permanent exceptions to daily hours of work include, listed exhaustively, persons engaged in positions of direction, trust or supervision, as well as persons engaged in discontinuous work. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided any indication of the types of work concerned by this exception and which are considered to be intermittent within the meaning of Article 7(1)(a) of the Convention. While recalling that, under the terms of this Article of the Convention, regulations made by the public authority shall determine the permanent exceptions which may be allowed for (i) certain classes of persons whose work is intermittent (such as caretakers and persons employed to look after working premises and warehouses), and (ii) classes of persons directly engaged in preparatory or complementary work (which must necessarily be carried on outside the limits laid down for the hours work of the rest of the persons employed in the establishment), the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the types of work covered by this exception.

Article 7, paragraph 2. Additional hours of work. Further to its previous comments concerning the possibility of working additional hours under section 37 of Decree No. 244 of 1943, the Committee notes that the Government has not provided any information on this point. It recalls in this respect that the Convention only allows the granting of temporary exceptions to rules on working hours in specific cases, namely, in unforeseen cases, to prevent accidents or for the urgent repair of machinery; to prevent the loss of perishable goods or avoid endangering the technical results of the work; to allow for special work; or to enable establishments to deal with cases of abnormal pressure of work due to special circumstances. The Committee hopes that the Government will take its comments into account in the process of preparing the new General Labour Act, particularly by amending section 50 of the General Labour Act, as the Committee has been requesting it to do for many years, and that it will confine the possibility of working additional hours to the cases envisaged by the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any developments in the preparation of the new General Labour Act and to provide a copy of the text once it has been finalized. It recalls that the Government may, if it so wishes, avail itself of the technical assistance of the ILO, through its Regional Office in Lima, with regard to the necessary legislative amendments for the full application of the provisions of the Convention.