Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1982)

Article 2 of the Convention. Maximum hours of work. The Committee notes the comments sent on 22 August 2010 by the Rerum Novarum Workers’ Confederation (CTRN) concerning the application of the Convention and the Government’s reply dated 30 March 2011.

In its comments, the CTRN refers to several bills aimed at making labour legislation more flexible, including with regard to hours of work. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that only one of these bills is currently before Parliament, namely Bill No. 17351 concerning employment protection in times of crisis. It also notes that, according to the Government, this Bill has not yet been placed on the agenda of Parliament for discussion and that the Ministry of Labour made a number of negative comments, one of the grounds being that the proposed measures were not based on any technical study. The Committee notes that Bill No. 17351 aims to enable the employer, in the event of an economic crisis and subject to certain conditions, to take temporary measures designed to preserve employment. These measures include the possibility of obliging the workers concerned to take their annual holiday in advance, replacing the system of working hours in force with another system authorized by the labour legislation, and reducing hours of work by one third. The Committee notes that the last measure, known as a system of short-time work in some countries, may constitute a relevant response to the current global economic crisis and at any rate does not raise issues with regard to maximum limits on working hours. The obligation on workers to take their holidays in advance does not pose any problem either as regards the application of the Convention. On the other hand, more detailed information is required on the scope of the provisions allowing employers to replace the existing system of working hours with a different one. The Committee notes the legal and economic report drawn up by the technical departments of the Legislative Assembly on 24 September 2009, which contains an important critique of the Bill. It also understands that this legislative text has not been discussed in Parliament for two years. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the current status of Bill No. 17351 and to provide further information on the type of system of working hours which an employer would be authorized to put in place under section 8 of the Bill.

Articles 2 and 6(1)(b). Hours of work and overtime for bus drivers. The Committee notes that the CTRN refers in its comments to the situation of bus drivers employed by transport companies affiliated to the National Chamber of Transport, alleging that these workers are subjected to exhausting working days of 16 to 18 hours, often without payment for the overtime worked. The CTRN also makes allegations concerning other practices to which bus drivers are exposed, such as the lack of a rest period for meals, the obligation to clean the vehicle at the end of the working day without payment for the additional time worked, etc. It also refers to a study conducted by the tripartite National Council for Occupational Health concerning the exhausting working days experienced by these drivers, the excessive stress that they suffer and the increased risk of accidents. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that, further to the aforementioned study published in 1997, Executive Decree No. 27298-MTSS of 2 September 1998 was adopted concerning the conditions of work and occupational health of bus drivers. In reply to the CTRN allegations, the Government indicates that workers in the transport sector are not deprived of protection given that, further to the repeal in 1997 of section 146 of the Labour Code, which allowed special rules to be fixed concerning hours of work in the transport sector, the enterprises concerned have reduced working time to 8 hours per day. The Government also refers to the information sent by the National Chamber of Transport in reply to the CTRN allegations. This organization argues that overtime is required occasionally, in order to respond to shortages of workers and that, further to the repeal of section 146 of the Labour Code, transport enterprises have increased the length of rest periods to allow their employees time for meals. The Government also emphasizes that any infringement of the applicable labour and occupational health standards with regard to bus drivers would be examined by the National Directorate of Labour Inspection and Social Security, regardless of any legal action taken. It indicates that in 2010 the labour inspection services undertook 99 inspections in transport enterprises. No infringements were reported in 26 enterprises, and another 37 applied the measures recommended by the labour inspectors. The Committee notes with interest the efforts of the labour inspectorate to enforce the regulations applicable to bus drivers as regards hours of work. However, the Committee requests the Government to carry out the necessary inquiries into the allegations made by the CTRN regarding the daily hours of work of bus drivers, overtime pay and the question of remuneration for time spent cleaning the vehicle, and to send any other observations that it may wish to make in reply to the comments of the CTRN.

Finally, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the conclusions of the ILO Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Working Time Arrangements, held in October 2011, according to which the provisions of existing ILO standards relating to daily and weekly hours of work, weekly rest, paid annual leave, part time and night work, remain relevant in the twenty-first century, and should be promoted in order to facilitate decent work. The Experts also emphasized the importance of working time, its regulation, and organization and management, to: (a) workers and their health and well-being, including opportunities for balancing working and non-work time; (b) the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises; and (c) effective responses to economic and labour market crises.