Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2011, Publicación: 101ª reunión CIT (2012)

Convenio sobre las horas de trabajo (comercio y oficinas), 1930 (núm. 30) - Argentina (Ratificación : 1950)

Article 3 of the Convention. Daily and weekly limits of hours of work. The Committee notes the comments of the Confederation of Workers of Argentina (CTA), which were received on 1 September 2011 and transmitted to the Government on 16 September 2011, concerning the application of this Convention and of the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1). The CTA denounces the laxity and inefficiency of the system of labour inspection with respect to working time and indicates that in 2010 the proportion of workers who worked more than 8 hours a day exceeded 35 per cent. According to the CTA, the highest number of working time irregularities are recorded in the sectors of commerce (especially retail shops and supermarkets) and road transport but the system of control and supervision is deficient. Moreover, the CTA refers to section 1 of Act No. 11544 of 12 September 1929, which provides that the hours of work may not exceed eight in the day or 48 in the week, and considers that in its current wording (eight-hour day, or – instead of and – 48-hour week) it appears to authorize the so-called “compressed workweek” (i.e. four consecutive workdays of 12 hours followed by three days off). Furthermore, in the view of the CTA, shift work arrangements are known to be most harmful to the workers’ health and family life and are not consistent with either the letter or the spirit of Conventions Nos 1 and 30. The Committee requests the Government to transmit any comments it may wish to make in response to the observations of CTA.

In addition, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the conclusions of the ILO Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Working Time Arrangements, held in October 2011, according to which the provisions of existing ILO standards relating to daily and weekly hours of work, weekly rest, paid annual leave, part-time and night work, remain relevant in the twenty-first century, and should be promoted in order to facilitate decent work. The Experts also emphasized the importance of working time, its regulation, and organization and management, to: (a) workers and their health and well-being, including opportunities for balancing working and non-work time; (b) the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises; and (c) effective responses to economic and labour market crises.