Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2012, Publicación: 102ª reunión CIT (2013)

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

Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention. Daily and weekly limits of hours of work. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to the comments made in 2011 by the Confederation of Workers of Argentina (CTA) concerning alleged widespread working time irregularities in the commerce and road transport sectors. The Committee notes, in particular, the Government’s reference to Decree No. 16.115/33 implementing Act No. 11.544 which reflects the provisions of Article 2 of the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), concerning the variable distribution of working hours within a week and the averaging of hours of work in the case of shift work. The Government further refers to section 197 of Act No. 20.744 on labour contract which requires a minimum rest period of 12 hours between two consecutive working days, thus implying that no worker may be employed for more than 12 hours per day. In this respect, the Committee wishes to point out that Conventions Nos 1 and 30 allow the limit of eight hours a day and 48 hours a week to be exceeded only in very limited and clearly defined circumstances. For instance, Convention No. 1 prescribes an overall daily work limit of nine hours in the case of variable distribution of working hours within a week while Convention No. 30 provides that the maximum hours of work in the week may be so arranged that hours of work in any day do not exceed ten hours. Therefore, the “compressed work-week” arrangements (i.e. four consecutive 12-hour workdays followed by three days off) referred to in the comments of the CTA would seem to be incompatible with the requirements of the Convention. As the Committee has concluded in paragraph 213 of its General Survey of 2005 on hours of work, “it appears that in many cases compressed work-weeks are likely to be in contravention of the requirements of Convention No. 1, Convention No. 30, or both, in particular due to the number of daily hours which are typically worked under these arrangements”. For example, compressed work-week arrangements, where work is performed by two teams in 12-hour shifts, would appear to be incompatible with the requirements of both Conventions Nos 1 and 30, because the daily work may exceed the nine-hour and ten-hour limits prescribed respectively. The Committee accordingly hopes that the Government will consider measures to ensure that working time arrangements fully comply with the limit set out in Article 4 of the Convention. In addition, the Committee would appreciate receiving additional information on the levels of over-employment (“sobreocupación horaria”) and any measures taken or envisaged for the protection of the workers concerned.