Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991 (No. 172) - Caribbean Part of the Netherlands

Article 3 of the Convention. Sector-specific labour policy. The Government emphasizes the necessity of modernizing laws and regulations to maintain healthy and safe working conditions. It is currently preparing new regulations to update the existing legal framework. The Government also observes that, due to the legal framework in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands, this legislative change will take time. Additionally, the implementation will, where possible, be delegated to employers and employees in various sectors, who will jointly develop health and safety catalogues. The Committee recalls that the adoption of a national policy the general objective of which is to ensure that workers in hotels and restaurants are not excluded from the scope of any minimum standards adopted at the national level for workers in general, constitutes the main rationale of the Convention. In view of the above, the Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on the steps taken to adopt such a policy as well as information on the adoption of any new normative texts applicable to workers in hotels and restaurants, including the modernisation of the laws and regulations related to healthy and safe working conditions. It also requests the Government to provide any updated information related to the implementation in practice of policies, laws and regulations made by employers and employees, including the preparation of health and safety catalogues. In this respect,the Committee recalls the value of the 2017 ILO Guidelines on Decent Work and Socially Responsible Tourism in guiding action to achieve decent work and socially responsible tourism.

Articles 4, 5, 6 and 8 of the Convention. Working time of hotel and restaurant workers. Paid leave. Tips. Implementation in practice. The Government points out that the hospitality industry (comprising hotels, restaurants, and casinos) is a sector with great occupational hazards, which include illegal employment, underpayment, and breach of working hours and rest break regulations. The Government indicates that the Labour Inspectorate dedicates considerable attention to this sector, checks that employers and workers comply with fair, healthy, and safe work laws, and conducts numerous inspections every year. The Labour Inspectorate carried out 167 inspections in 2021 and 234 investigations in 2022. While the report does not break down these numbers by sector, the overall picture is that most violations in the hospitality industry involve violations of health and safety standards. The Committee notes that the National office of the Caribbean Netherlands (RCN) unit for Social Affairs and Employment, an implementing agency of the Ministry in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands, of which the Labour Inspectorate is a division, does not collect worker data such as employer, working sector, wage, employment contract, and working times. The Government states that the Labour Inspectorate collects data when carrying out regular inspections and monitoring of various laws, including working hours and minimum wage. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there is no overview of these data due to the lack of an optimal registration system, but there is statistical information regarding the number of jobs in hospitality (1,780) and the average annual wage (US$16,950). The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Labour Inspectorate and the RCN unit Social Affairs and Employment do not have an overview of the compensation for overtime or the number of hours worked in overtime in the hospitality sector. The Government adds that the inspection reports are not made public and can, therefore, not be shared. The report indicates that there are some collective bargaining agreements in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands and a collective bargaining agreement in the hospitality sector, which has been attached to the report. The Committee wishes to once again recall that the general objective of the Convention is to ensure that the workers in the sector are not excluded from the scope of any minimum standards adopted at the national level for workers in general, including those relating to social security entitlements. In this respect, the Committee considers that failing to collect and overview data related to the observance of the national legal framework as regards workers, employers, economic sectors, wages, employment contracts and working times and overtime deprives the public authorities and the social partners from precious information which could feed into the national policy for the sector. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the practical application of the above-mentioned provisions of the Convention to workers employed in hotels and restaurants, including information on working time in the sector, the rate of remuneration for overtime hours, the number of additional hours performed on average in the hotel and restaurant sectors as well as on paid leave and the treatment of tips. The Committee also requests the Government to consider compiling information on violations of the national legal framework applicable to hotels and restaurants, including as regards health and safety violations, with a view to using this data to design measures aimed at guaranteeing that the minimum standards applicable to workers in general are effectively applied in practice. Such information should, as much as possible, include data disaggregated by sex and age, on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, extracts or general analysis from labour inspection reports, and official studies or surveys concerning the employment conditions in the hotel and restaurant sectors or any difficulties experienced in the application of the national legal framework applicable to hotels and restaurants.