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

Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137) - Brazil (Ratification: 1994)

Article 2 of the Convention. Employment for dockworkers. The Committee previously requested the Government to provide examples of collective agreements, concluded under section 43 of the Docks Act (No. 12.815 of 2013), applicable to casual dockworkers and which provide for minimum periods of employment or minimum income for this category of workers. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that while the collective agreements do not explicitly provide for minimum periods of employment and minimum income, they provide for minimum attendance periods for casual workers in order to provide them with income protection and guarantees, along the lines of the collective agreement concluded between the port operators of the state of Espirito Santo and dockworkers’ unions for the period 2021–2023 which it provides. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide examples of relevant collective agreements, taking into account the importance of the docks or number of casual dockworkers concerned, that provide for minimum periods of employment or minimum income for dockworkers.

Articles 2, 3 and 4. New draft legislation on ports and potential impact on dockworkers’ registers and employment. The Committee notes, according to the information available on the website of the Chamber of Deputies, the discussion under way concerning a draft reform of the law on ports and, in particular, that a special committee of legal experts in the Chamber of Deputies approved a preliminary draft of a new legal framework for the public and private port system. The Committee also notes the indication that this draft is opposed by workers’ representatives and that one of the changes criticized by port workers’ representatives and the Labour Prosecutor’s Office is the end of the exclusive issuance of contracts to temporary workers in public ports. The Committee requests the Government to report on any new developments in this regard and, should a new law on ports be adopted, to provide information on the system implemented concerning public and private ports and indicate whether it introduces new procedures for obtaining work in ports, on a regular or casual basis, and to indicate the extent to which the new system promotes permanent or regular work for dockworkers, or at least minimum periods of employment or a minimum income. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to indicate, where relevant, any measures envisaged to attenuate the possible negative impacts of any variation in numbers of dockworkers resulting from the implementation of the law, and to specify whether the social partners concerned have been consulted in this regard.

Application in practice. Following the Government’s indication that the Ministry of Labour was consolidating the available data on the number of dockworkers on the registers of the Port Labour Management Boards (OGMOs) of the country’s ports, the Committee had hoped to receive information on the number of dockworkers on the registers, including casual dockworkers, and any change in that number. In the absence of information, the Committee reiterates its request and hopes that the Government will be able to provide information in the near future on the total number of dockworkers on the registers of the country’s ports, distinguishing casual dockworkers, with the average period of employment and income for each port, and on any change in these numbers.