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Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - El Salvador (RATIFICATION: 2001)

Article 4 of the Convention. Organization of the central labour administration authority. The Committee notes with interest that as part of the strengthening of labour administration systems under the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MTPS), units have been set up for public information, legal services, gender equality and cooperation, inter alia. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the duties assigned to these units, and on the impact of their establishment on the running of the labour administration system and the coordination required to ensure their effective operation.

Article 5. Consultation, cooperation and negotiation between the public labour administration authorities and employers’ and workers’ organizations. Further to the Committee’s previous comments, in which it requested that the Government send copies of any reports, or extracts of reports of the work of the tripartite or multipartite bodies, the Government states that it does not have any reports or extracts of reports on the work of these bodies, because they have no worker representation at the moment and it is impossible to convene them whilst there is no established quorum. The Committee asks the Government to ensure that the necessary measures are adopted to appoint representatives from the workers’ organizations to the abovementioned tripartite and multipartite bodies, in particular to the Higher Labour Council, with a view to guaranteeing the application of Article 5(1) of the Convention. In this respect, the Committee also refers to its comments on the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144). The Committee asks the Government once again to specify whether consultations, cooperation and negotiations are guaranteed at the regional or local level in the various sectors of economic activity.

Article 6. Impact of the implementation of the MTPS’s five-year strategic plan on the running of the labour administration system. In relation to the Committee’s previous comments on the MTPS’s five-year strategic plan, the Government specifies that it aims to: (i) amalgamate the functions of the labour inspection and occupational safety and health services; (ii) strengthen occupational safety and health at the workplace; (iii) establish inter-institutional linkages and management of national and international cooperation with respect to occupational safety and employment; and (iv) develop strategies to foster labour relations at the national and international level, including in the area of equal opportunities, with a focus on gender issues among young people, the disabled, senior citizens and heads of households. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the MTPS’s five-year strategic plan in force for the period covered by its next report, indicating its objectives, main lines of action, activities developed to achieve these objectives and their repercussions, in particular with respect to labour protection; employment and professional training; and industrial relations.

Article 10. Human resources and material means of the labour administration system. 1. Human resources. The Committee notes with interest that the Bill on public administration is under examination. This will replace the Civil Service Act. Its aim is to modernize the state administration and improve staff selection procedures. The Committee also notes in the MTPS’s activities report, Boletín, of 30 July 2012, enclosed with the Government’s report, that 480 employees of the MTPS now come under the purview of the Wages Act. There are now 804 positions in the system and only 55 high-level employees, whose duties are of a highly confidential nature, are engaged under a contract. The Committee asks the Government to specify whether the labour administration staff governed by the Wages Act are also governed totally by the Civil Service Act and are incorporated into the administrative career path. The Committee also asks the Government to inform it of the progress in relation to the adoption of the Bill on the public administration and to send a copy of it once it has been adopted.

2. Training. In connection with the Committee’s previous comments on in-house training for labour administration staff, the Government refers to the training programme on implementing comprehensive labour inspections. This was organized for staff in the labour inspectorate and occupational safety and health sector, and was held between November 2010 and March 2011 in the context of the project to strengthen labour inspection services, known as ILO/PROFILE. This programme consisted of five modules: labour inspection, occupational safety and health, international labour standards, equal opportunity and treatment in employment, and the drafting of technical reports and minutes. The Government also points out that, between 2009 and 2013, training programmes on HIV were conducted for the MTPS staff at national level and on individual and collective labour disputes. The Committee asks the Government to continue sending information on the training provided to labour administration staff at both the national, regional and local levels (stipulating the subjects covered, duration, number of participants by category, the regional and/or local offices involved, as well as the training institution), and the results achieved with respect to the objectives contained in the Convention.

3. Material means. Taking note of the budgetary resources allocated to the MTPS in 2012, the Committee asks the Government to provide information – broken down by regions as far as possible – on the material resources, including transport facilities, granted to labour administration staff to enable them to carry out their duties effectively. The Committee also asks the Government to state whether the acquisition of material resources (computer equipment and vehicles) as part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States, to which it referred in its previous report, in particular the establishment of a “call centre”, have had an impact on the functions of the labour administration.