Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Eswatini (Ratification: 1978)

Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. Total or partial exceptions. Further to its previous comments, the Committee understands that certain wage regulation orders (such as the Order for the industrial sugar production sector and the Order for mining and quarrying) provide for the possibility of employing workers on the day of weekly rest in exchange of additional remuneration. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate in its next report the circumstances in which suspensions or diminutions of rest periods are authorized and the measures adopted to grant the workers concerned, as far as possible, compensatory rest periods. It would also be grateful to be provided with a copy of the full text of all of the Wages Regulation Orders that are currently in force.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the statistical information provided by the Government on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, the number of inspections carried out by the labour inspectorate in 2007 and the types of contraventions most frequently reported. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for instance, extracts from reports of the inspection services indicating the number of contraventions reported in relation to weekly rest and the penalties imposed, copies of collective agreements containing clauses on the weekly rest period, etc.

Finally, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, based on the conclusions and proposals of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided that the ratification of up to date Conventions, including the Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14), and the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106), should be encouraged because they continue to respond to current needs (see GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraphs 17–18). The Committee accordingly invites the Government to envisage ratifying Convention No. 106 and to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this respect.