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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 1998)

Also referring to its observation, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the following.

Articles 10, 16, 17 and 18 of the Convention. Need for more human resources for more inspection activities and better enforcement results. The Committee notes with concern that the number of officers assigned to labour inspection activities throughout the country is insufficient with regard to distances between the islands and the needed air transport facilities. The Government indicates in particular that these officers are also invested with other functions, which leads to a limited number of inspections done yearly. Moreover, according to the Government, the records show that no employer has ever been prosecuted for violation of the law. The Committee hopes that on the occasion of yearly budgetary decisions the labour market information system in preparation will allow the Labour Department to draw the attention of the competent authorities to the specific needs of the labour inspection system for more human resources in order to better ensure law enforcement in the area of conditions of work, and the protection of workers while engaged in their work. The Committee recalls that labour inspection activities call for an appropriate balance of pedagogic and repressive measures which means that labour inspectors should be in a position to verify whether their advice and warnings were taken into consideration by the employers found in violation and, in the negative, to make use of legal proceedings. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would take all necessary measures to this end and to keep the ILO duly informed of any progress.