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Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Uruguay (RATIFICATION: 1973)

Conditions of service and status of labour inspectors (Articles 6(3) and 8 of the Convention).  The Committee notes that Act No. 16-226 of 29 October 1991 allows labour inspectors to perform, in addition to their official duties, activities not associated with them, subject to prior notification to the institution to which they belong, and that they must not take part as an inspector in any matter having a direct or indirect link with their private activity. This provision repeals section 495 of Act No. 15-809 of 10 November 1987 which, as the Government emphasized in a previous report (1993), specifically prohibited inspectors from performing other work. The Committee notes that the Government also said in the 1993 report, to establish that inspectors benefited from advantageous and preferential treatment, that in addition to the possibility of ensuring other sources of income, the supplementary remuneration which was paid to them in addition to their wage was maintained. The Committee reminds the Government that under Article 8 of the Convention, the labour inspection staff in the agricultural sector shall be composed of public officials whose status and conditions of service are such that they are assured of stability of employment and are independent of changes of government and of improper external influences. The authority and impartiality necessary for labour inspectors in their relations with employers and workers can be ensured only if these statutory and material conditions exist. However, not only does the faculty offered to inspectors to perform other paid activities in parallel with their official duties indicate that the wages paid to them are insufficient for them to live on but, in addition, it would seem to discourage involvement with their inspection work. The Committee considers in any event that the abovementioned provision of Act No. 16-226 of 29 October 1991 is contrary to Article 6(3), and to the purposes envisaged in Article 8. It therefore requests the Government to set in hand appropriate measures for the purpose of amending legislation on this point in order to ensure conformity with the provisions of the Convention and to supply information on any progress made in this matter.

Numbers and powers of labour inspectors (Articles 14, 15 and 21).  In a comment dated 29 December 1999, the National Workers’ Convention (PIT-CNT) indicates the difficulties encountered particularly by labour inspectors working in rural areas because of the lack of transport facilities necessary for the performance of their supervisory duties in paddy fields and orange groves. The Ibero-American Confederation of Labour Inspectors also denounces, in an observation dated 26 May 2000 on the same Convention, a progressive deterioration in the system and resources of labour inspectors: inadequate staff numbers, non-existent work documents and wage discrimination compared with the inspectors of other state inspection units responsible for fiscal supervision. The Government is requested to provide details on the number and geographical distribution of labour inspectors working in agriculture and to supply information on any measures taken or envisaged to make available to them the material resources necessary for the performance of their duties such as, in particular, the transport means or facilities essential for visiting and inspecting agricultural undertakings, in accordance with Article 21, as often and as thoroughly as possible.