Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2001, publiée 90ème session CIT (2002)

The Committee refers to its observation on this Convention, and requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes with interest that, under section 1(a) to (g) of the new Statute of the General Labour Inspectorate, 1997, the General Labour Inspectorate is responsible for performing the main functions defined in Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. It notes however that, under (h) of the same provision, labour inspectors may perform other functions defined by the law. The Government is asked to provide information on the nature and volume of the other duties that may be conferred on labour inspectors and to indicate the manner in which it will be ensured that such duties will not obstruct the performance of their main duties or impair the authority and impartiality they need in their relations with employers and workers.

Article 5(a). The Government is asked to provide copies of the cooperation agreements to be signed between the General Labour Inspectorate and the civilian governments of the islands of Fogo, Brava, Saint Vincent and Saint Nicolau.

Article 7, paragraph 3. The Committee notes with interest the information on the training for labour inspectors provided by Portuguese specialists in the course of 2000. It would be grateful if the Government would provide further particulars including the number of inspectors involved in such training and the areas covered by the training, together with similar information on the training to take place this year in the areas of health, safety at work and the procedure for prosecuting offences.

Article 8. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether special duties are assigned, as this provision allows, to the two women on the staff of the labour inspectorate.

Articles 10, 11 and 16. The Committee notes the geographical distribution of labour inspection services and their staff and that the main obstacles to the development of these services are insufficient financial resources and the absence of qualified management staff on the labour market. The Committee wishes to emphasize in this connection, as it did in paragraph 214 of its General Survey of 1985 on labour inspection, the economic and social value of labour inspection and the social cost of reducing its effectiveness. It draws the Government’s attention to the need to allocate to the labour inspectorate a proportion of the national budget commensurate with its objectives. In estimating requirements in human material resources, account should be taken of the various branches of economic activity, the number of enterprises, their geographical distribution and the number of workers they employ, and available communications and public and private means of transport. Noting the information on the labour inspectorate’s vehicle stock and that the General Labour Directorate provides transport for inspectors whose work takes them outside their allotted area, the Committee wishes to stress particularly the need for labour inspectors to have transport facilities in keeping with their real needs so that they can inspect workplaces as thoroughly and as frequently as Article 16 requires. It hopes that the Government will take all appropriate steps to improve and develop the resources needed by the labour inspectorate, to report on progress or on any difficulties encountered and to supply regular information on the staff, activities and means of transport of the inspection services.

Article 14. Recalling that under this provision, the labour inspectorate must be informed not only of industrial accidents but also of cases of occupational disease, and noting that section 7(1) and (2) of Legislative Decree No. 90-97 requires notification only in the case of occupational accident, the Committee asks the Government to take the necessary measures for appropriate amendments to be made to the legislation and to inform the ILO of the implementation of these measures and their results.

Article 15. The Committee notes with concern that although section 25 of the new General Statute of the Labour Inspectorate is still consistent with (a) and (c) of this Article of the Convention as concerns incompatibility between inspectors’ duties and conflicting interests and as regards the principle of confidentiality as to the source of complaints, section 24, as it is now worded, no longer refers to the prohibition imposed by (b) on revealing, even after leaving the service, any manufacturing or commercial secrets or working processes which may have come to their knowledge in the course of their duties. In the Committee’s view, the absence of this prohibition amounts to a step backwards in comparison with former section 25(1). It therefore asks the Government to take the necessary measures to reintroduce this important principle into the legislation, since it is essential to the relationship of trust which must prevail between employers and labour inspectors.