Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Plantations Convention, 1958 (No. 110) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee takes note of the supplementary information provided by the Government in light of the decision adopted by the Governing Body at it 338th Session (June 2020). The Committee proceeded with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the supplementary information received from the Government in 2020, as well as on the basis of the information at its disposal in 2019.

The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not reply to the 2014 observations of the Trade Union of Workers of Guatemala (UNSITRAGUA) regarding: the engagement and recruitment of agricultural workers; wages; payment of overtime hours; annual paid holiday; registration with the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security (IGSS); migrant workers; health and safety conditions; housing and food; and child labour and labour inspection. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide its comments in this regard.

Part II of the Convention. Engagement and recruitment and migrant workers. Articles 5–19 of the Convention. The Committee notes the adoption of the Agricultural Policy 2016-2020, which includes focal points, guidelines and actions aimed at, inter alia, commercial producers. According to the typology of producers established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food based on the size of the farms that they occupy and their socio-economic conditions, three per cent of agricultural producers are classed as commercial producers and occupy 65 per cent of arable land. The Committee notes that, according to the 2016 National Employment and Income Survey (ENEI) of the Guatemalan National Institute of Statistics (INE), 28.8 per cent of employment in the country is in the agricultural sector, 89.5 per cent of whom are men and 10.4 per cent are women. Furthermore, the agricultural sector has the highest percentage of persons in informal employment (36.9 per cent). The Committee observes, however, that this statistical data does not indicate which of these workers work on plantations. Noting that the Government does not provide information on this part of the Convention, the Committee once again requests it to provide detailed and updated information on the measures taken to give full effect to Articles 5 to 19 of the Convention, and information on the national policies adopted recently, including the Agricultural Policy 2016-2020, which cover the plantation sector, and their impact on the living and working conditions of workers in the sector.

Part IV (Wages). Articles 24–35. The Committee notes the adoption of Government Decision No. 250-2020 of 30 December 2020, which establishes the daily minimum wage in the agricultural sector at 90.16 quetzals (approximately US$12) per day. The Committee also refers to its comments from 2019 on the application of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), in which it noted that, in its 2019 annual report, the UN Office of the High Commissioner in Guatemala highlighted that several workers on plantations in the Northern Transversal Strip had reported the use of illegal contractors who charge workers to be hired, high production goals, and payment of less than the minimum wage (A/HRC/40/3/Add.1, 28 January 2019, paragraph 76). The Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure that the social partners are consulted regularly on matters affecting the implementation of the Convention. The Government is also requested to provide detailed and updated information on the manner in which the representatives of the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned were consulted with regard to the determination of the minimum wage in 2020, as required by Article 24 of the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which it ensures that workers in the plantation sector receive at least the established minimum wage, including information on the number and results of inspections conducted with regard to the payment of the minimum wage on plantations.

Part XI (Labour inspection). Articles 71–84. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to its 2014 comments made under the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) and noted the observations of workers’ organizations denouncing the Government’s failure to supervise compliance with labour legislation on dozens of plantations. The Committee also noted the extensive use of child labour on coffee, sugar cane, cardamom and cotton plantations, and requested the Government to provide detailed information on the specific measures taken to supervise and control the working conditions of under-aged workers on plantations. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Universal Period Review (UPR) Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council, in its 2017 report, indicated that, despite the reduction in child labour, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had reiterated its concern about the continuing economic exploitation of children in sectors such as agriculture (A/HRC/WG.6/28/GTM/2, paragraph 70). In this regard, the Committee observes that, according to the 2016 National Employment and Income Survey of the INE, the agricultural sector has the highest percentage of child labour (58.8 per cent) with a greater number of boys engaged than girls. The Committee further notes the statistical data provided by the Government which indicate that 1,290 labour inspections were conducted between 2018 and 2019. The Committee observes, however, that only inspections under the heading “sugar and African palm” refer, in general, to those conducted on plantations and that these related to the verification of the payment of the minimum wage, end-of-year bonuses, and annual bonuses, as well worker-employer documentation and health and safety measures. The Committee also notes that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security published, in 2017, a single protocol on procedures for the labour inspection system, which includes a procedure for the inspection and verification of the rights of agricultural workers, and which specifies the steps to be followed to conduct an inspection of an agricultural enterprise or plantation. The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government in its supplementary report regarding the measures taken with a view to mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working and living conditions of workers. These measures include the adoption of Decree No. 13-2020, Act on the provision of economic relief for families from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which establishes a fund for the protection of employment, and the creation of an electronic procedure for the registration, control and authorization of collective suspensions of employment contracts, by means of which employers have the authority to request the individual or collective suspension of employment contracts before the General Labour Inspectorate, and subsequently request the Ministry of the Economy to compensate the workers. The Government indicates that enterprises with an economic activity identified as the “manufacture of rubber products and agriculture” requested the suspension of the employment contracts of 69 and 168 workers, respectively. The Committee requests the Government to: (i) continue providing detailed statistical data on the inspections conducted on plantations, including the violations of labour laws reported, in accordance with Article 74(1)(a) of the Convention, and the penalties imposed; (ii) indicate the specific measures taken by the labour inspectorate to supervise and control the working conditions of under-aged plantation workers; (iii) provide detailed information on the impact of the single protocol on procedures for the labour inspection system on the inspections conducted on plantations, including disaggregated statistical information on inspections conducted on banana plantations. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to supply information on the impact of the measures taken to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working and living conditions of plantation workers.