Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

Convention (n° 106) sur le repos hebdomadaire (commerce et bureaux), 1957 - Serbie (Ratification: 2000)

Article 7 of the Convention. Special weekly rest schemes. The Committee notes that sections 57 and 59 of the Labour Law seem to provide for the possibility of setting up special weekly rest schemes, due to the nature of activity, the organization of the work or from the point of view of making better use of means of production or better management of working time, provided that the workers who are covered by these special schemes are granted the weekly rest to which they are entitled within a period which may not exceed 30 days. In this regard, it recalls that Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention, authorizes the introduction of special schemes only in well-defined circumstances for specified categories of persons or specified types of establishments. It requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged in order to determine the categories of persons or enterprises which may be subject to a special weekly rest scheme, while ensuring that the cases justifying recourse to special schemes are limited to the cases provided for by Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention.

Article 8. Temporary exemptions. In reply to its previous comment on this point, the Government indicates that, in accordance with section 53 of the Labour Law, read in conjunction with section 67(4), weekly rest may only be suspended in the event of force majeure, sudden pressure of work or urgent unplanned work which has to be carried out within a certain period and which requires overtime work. It also indicates that the amendment of section 67(4), which establishes the conditions of weekly rest, is envisaged in order to reduce the risk of interpretation. The Committee recalls that Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention, only authorizes temporary exemptions to weekly rest in a limited number of cases which do not include “urgent unplanned work which has to be carried out within a certain period”. This Article requires that it be a case of urgent work to premises and equipment in so far as necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordinary working of the establishment. The Committee hopes that the Government will take these observations into account when revising section 67(4) of the Labour Law so as to ensure that temporary exemptions to weekly rest are only authorized under the well-defined conditions referred to in Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention. It requests the Government to provide a copy of the revised text once it has been adopted.

Article 9. Protection of wages. Further to its previous comment, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate how this Article of the Convention is given effect in both law and practice.

Furthermore, the Committee notes the comments made by the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, according to which the rules on weekly rest and the legislative provisions concerning the employer’s duty to inform its workers of the reallocation of hours of work are infringed, particularly in supermarkets and hypermarkets where a system of “voluntary work” on Saturdays and Sundays has been introduced, depriving workers of any weekly rest. It also notes that, according to the allegations made by the Confederation, the labour inspection services prove to be ineffective in enforcing the provisions on weekly rest. The Committee requests the Government to submit any comments that it would like to make concerning these allegations.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government concerning violations relating to weekly rest reported by the inspection services in the commercial sector. It requests the Government to continue providing general information on the application of the Convention in practice, particularly statistical data concerning the number of workers covered by the legislation giving effect to the Convention, extracts from reports of the inspection services indicating the number of violations of the rules relating to weekly rest which have been reported and the sanctions imposed in this regard, etc.