CMNT_TITLE

Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (RATIFICATION: 1973)

The Committee takes due note of the information supplied by the Government in its report.

The Committee recalls its previous comments in which it noted that, according to article 46 of the General Labour Act of 26 May 1939 as amended, night work is defined as any work performed between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., that is a period of ten hours, whereas Article 2 of the Convention provides that the term "night" signifies a period of at least 11 consecutive hours. In addition, the Committee has been requesting the Government for many years to clarify the exact meaning of article 60 of the above Act according to which the prohibition of night work does not apply to "other forms of work to be determined".

In its report, the Government states that the exemption referred to in article 60 relates to women employed in certain branches of activity such as the health sector, radio and television media, telecommunications, and civil or commercial aviation. The Committee takes note of this information but once again recalls that the only exceptions allowed by the Convention are those specifically provided for under Articles 3, 4, 5 and 8. Furthermore, the Committee observes that under article 52 of the regulations relative to the General Labour Act, Decree of 23 August 1943, the Minister of Labour may grant special authorizations "in specific cases" which again shows the need to ensure that any exceptions to the night work prohibition meet the strict requirements of the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee also notes that the Government refers once more to the ongoing process of revision of the labour legislation. It recalls that since 1993 a preliminary draft of the new General Labour Act had been elaborated which, according to the Government’s indications, would have taken into consideration the comments of the Committee in order to bring the national legislation into conformity with the international labour Conventions ratified by Bolivia.

The Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be adopted without further delay to eliminate the discrepancies to which the Committee has been drawing attention for some time past. It requests the Government to keep it informed of any progress achieved in this regard.

The Committee also wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the Protocol of 1990 to Convention No. 89, which offers greater flexibility in the application of this Convention.