Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1992, publiée 79ème session CIT (1992)

Convention (n° 81) sur l'inspection du travail, 1947 - Maroc (Ratification: 1958)

Further to its previous general observation, the Committee notes the observations made by the General Union of Workers of Morocco and the Democratic Confederation of Labour (CDT) concerning application of the Convention. These trade unions allege the following:

(a) Although all sectors of the economy are in law subject to labour legislation and inspection, traditional industry has been effectively excluded from inspection activities, as is evidenced by the widespread employment of children in carpet factories. Government has been lax in conducting inspection activities because of a lack of will to enforce protective labour legislation and a desire to promote foreign investment (see Article 2 of the Convention).

(b) No measures are taken by inspectors to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legislation (Article 3(1)(c)).

(c) Inspectors are distracted from their function of inspecting workplaces by being called upon to resolve individual and collective disputes which should be referred to conciliation and arbitration committees under Dahir of 19 January 1946 (Article 3(2)).

(d) As there is no effective collaboration between the inspection and the judicial systems and no system for keeping case statistics, inspectors are not reporting cases of violations. It is thus not known how far the labour legislation is in practice observed (Article 17).

(e) There is no effective regulation of the relations between employers' and workers' organisations and the labour inspectorate, so that no use is made of these organisations to assist the inspectorate enforce labour laws (Article 5).

(f) The terms of employment of inspectors do not assure their independence and stability in employment, but permit employers to exercise influence on the performance of their tasks (Articles 6 and 18).

(g) Labour inspectors are ill-trained (Article 7(3)).

(h) The strength of the labour inspection service is unreported and indeterminable, and material supports for their work inappropriate and insufficient (Articles 10 and 11).

(i) Legislation is inadequate to ensure inspectors may take the necessary remedial steps (Article 13).

(j) Sanctions for failure to conform to the requirements of law are ineffective (Article 18).

(k) Since 1987 there has been no annual report of the inspection service (Article 20).

In a later communication, the CDT has referred to a serious deterioration in observance of the labour legislation, especially as regards safety and health and working minors.

The Committee notes that the information supplied by the Government refers to activities of the Ministry of Employment in general up to 1988 but does not include the information requested in the report form approved by the Governing Body or, in particular, the details referred to in Article 21. It also notes that, although contact has been made by the ILO with the Government with a view to providing technical cooperation in relation to labour inspection, this has not yet come to fruition. The Committee hopes progress will be made in this respect, and it hopes that a detailed report including the Government's response to the questions raised above will soon be supplied.