Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1977)

Articles 6(1)(a) and (3), 22 and 23 of the Convention. Supervision and treatment of infringements. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the outcome of the activities carried out from October to December 2010 within the context of the Programme to build institutional capacity in the regions of Alto Parapeti-Camiri (Santa Cruz), Carapi-Yacuiba (Tarija), Chaco and Trinidad-Beni in the Amazon region, implemented within the framework of the Swiss cooperation strategy and seeking to promote the eradication of bonded labour, forced labour and similar forms of labour inflicted on indigenous workers and vulnerable groups. According to the Government, all cases in which complaints were made were resolved through conciliation, without the need for legal action. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would describe the role played by labour inspectors in the conciliation procedures referred to above. It also requests the Government to indicate the legal provisions which give effect to Article 22 of the Convention, under which persons who violate or neglect to observe legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors in agriculture shall be liable to prompt legal or administrative proceedings without prior warning (Article 22(1)), and whether inspectors are free to take the decisions given to them in Article 22(2), under which it shall be left to the discretion of labour inspectors to give warning and advice instead of instituting or recommending proceedings. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the supervision duties performed by labour inspectors in agricultural undertakings during the period covered by the Government’s next report, on the infringements recorded (indicating the legal provisions breached) and on proceedings instituted by labour inspectors or by the competent authority and their outcomes.

Articles 8 and 14. Status and conditions of service of labour inspection staff and numbers of labour inspectors in agriculture. The Government indicates that staff numbers in the labour inspection offices of Yacuiba, Charagua, Caraparí, Macharetí, Entre Ríos and Huacaretá were increased between 2007 and 2009 in the framework of the Inter-Ministerial Transition Plan for the Guaraní people, that the Programme to build institutional capacity (FORDECAPI), of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), assisted in recruiting four consultants for the Chaco and Amazon regions and that, through UNICEF cooperation, two consultants were recruited to support sugar-cane and brazil nut harvesting. The Committee notes the table provided with the Government’s report showing that 25 labour inspectors are distributed across 14 regions. The Committee refers the Government to the comments it is making under Articles 3(1) and 10 of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), and requests it to specify the number of labour inspectors serving in the agricultural sector. It also requests the Government to provide information on the status and conditions of service of the abovementioned consultants and to specify whether they continue to support inspection activities in the fields mentioned.

Article 9(3). Adequate training of labour inspectors in agriculture. The Government indicates that, despite budgetary limitations and high staff turnover, labour inspectors regularly receive training on current labour legislation by the General Directorate of Labour and Occupational Safety and Health and, with support from international organizations such as the ILO, UNICEF and the Trade Union Development Cooperation Institute (ISCOD), on themes such as the abolition of child labour, HIV/AIDS prevention, the abolition of forced labour, etc. The Committee emphasizes the importance of ensuring that labour inspectors working in the agricultural sector receive appropriate initial and further training in the course of their employment, which takes into account the development of technology and working methods and the risks associated with the use of machines and tools and with the handling of products and chemical substances to which workers and their families are exposed. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that labour inspectors performing their duties in agricultural undertakings receive initial and further training in the course of their employment that takes into account the specific characteristics of work in agricultural undertakings, specifying the length of the training courses, the number of inspectors participating in them and the topics addressed. The Committee also refers the Government to its comments above on Articles 6(1)(a) and (3), 22 and 23 of the Convention, and requests it to indicate whether measures have been taken or are envisaged to provide training sessions on conflict management for labour inspectors, including for those who inspect agricultural undertakings.

Article 13. Collaboration between officials of the labour inspectorate in agriculture, and employers and workers. The Government indicates that it regularly meets with employers and workers and that tripartite meetings in the rural sector are being encouraged in the search for an agreement between the Government, employers and workers. The Government also indicates the use of the labels “without child labour”, “without forced labour” and “without discrimination” in sugar production in the north of Santa Cruz and brazil nut production in the Riberalta and Pando regions. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the subject areas discussed in the tripartite meetings to which it refers in its report. It also requests the Government to provide detailed information on the inspection of agricultural undertakings that are certified as mentioned above, describing how such inspection affects the achievement of the objective of the Convention (to enforce the legal provisions regarding working conditions and protection of workers).

Article 17. Association of labour inspection services in preventive control in agricultural undertakings. Replying to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government indicates that the competent authorities for the review and approval of plans and alterations for any new buildings and plans for any major alterations or repairs in workplaces, dealt with in section 60 of the Occupational Safety and Health and Welfare Act, are the autonomous municipal governments of the departments and regions, within their respective jurisdictions. The Committee notes that labour inspection does not appear to be associated in any way with this supervisory work. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to define the cases and conditions in which the labour inspection services in agriculture shall be associated in the preventive control of new plants, new substances and new methods of handling or processing products, which appear likely to constitute a threat to health or safety. It requests the Government to provide copies of any relevant documents, and once again asks it to provide copies of texts implementing sections 60 and 19(5) of the above Act.

Articles 18, 19 and 27(d) and (e). Monitoring of safety and health at work, notifying the labour inspectorate of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease occurring in the agricultural sector, and participation of labour inspectors in inquiries into the most serious occupational accidents or occupational diseases. The Committee requested the Government to provide specific statistical information on: (i) inspection activities relating to the health and safety of workers in the agricultural sector; (ii) the measures that labour inspectors have ordered or have had ordered in the sector under Article 18(2)(a) and (b); and (iii) any other measure adopted by the labour inspectorate in agriculture with a view to preventing the occurrence of further occupational accidents and the emergence of new cases of occupational diseases. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that no information is available on the inspection activities relating to occupational safety and health in agriculture. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures without delay to ensure that statistics on inspection activities in occupational safety and health in agriculture; the results of these activities (reports of law infringements and defects); and the penalties imposed are compiled and included in the annual inspection report. The Committee also once again requests the Government to specify the measures adopted to give effect, in law and in practice, to Article 19(2) of the Convention which provides that, as far as possible, labour inspectors shall be associated with any on-the-spot inquiry into the causes of the most serious occupational accidents or occupational diseases, particularly of those which affect a number of workers or have fatal consequences.

Articles 26 and 27. Annual report on labour inspection activity in agriculture. Referring in this connection to its observation under Convention No. 81, the Committee hopes that the measures adopted will be put to use to facilitate the preparation by the local inspection offices of the periodical reports on their activities in agricultural undertakings as required by Article 25, that these reports will enable the central inspection authority to publish and transmit to the ILO, in accordance with Article 26, an annual report either as a separate report on activities in agriculture or as part of its general annual report, and that it will contain the information set out in Article 27.