Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Cameroon (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the observations of the Cameroon Workers’ Trade Union Confederation (CSTC), received on 31 August 2022.

Articles 3(1)(b), 10, 11 and 16 of the Convention. Human and material resources necessary for the discharge of the duties of the labour inspectorate. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in reply to its previous comment on human, financial and material resources allocated to the labour inspectorate, that the labour inspectorate has 186 employees (183 in 2018). The Government also indicates that it has installed a fibre-optic local IT network interconnecting Yaoundé and the regional branches of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Ministry of Labour). The Government also states that eight vehicles have been purchased, making a total of 20 vehicles for the regional labour inspection units. According to the Government, nearly 684,536,800 CFA francs (about 1 million US dollars) have been allocated for inspections (information collected in 2019). As regards the number of inspections, the Government indicates that these increased from 2,787 in 2017 to 6,829 in 2021. In 2021, more than 55 per cent of these inspections were carried out in the wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, and also in services for the community, social services and personal services. The Committee also notes that, according to the CSTC, there is an absence of inspectors on the ground, which also means an absence of inspection activity in the informal economy. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of labour inspectors, including information on their distribution in the regions, departments and districts. The Committee also requests the Government to continue providing information on the material resources allocated to labour inspectors. It further requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that labour inspectors supply technical information and advice to employers and workers, including in the informal economy, concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions, in accordance with Article 3(1)(b) of the Convention.

Articles 3(1)(a), 6, 15(a) and 18. Status, conditions of service, integrity, independence and impartiality of labour inspectors. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors are public servants within the labour administration and that sometimes contractual employees of the administration with a certain record of service are appointed to these posts. Since no specific information has been provided on this subject, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide details regarding the period of appointment of labour inspectors, and on their conditions of service at the central, regional, departmental and district levels. In this regard, it requests the Government to provide information on salary scales and career prospects for labour inspectors, and to draw up a comparison with officials in other departments who perform similar duties, such as tax inspectors and police officers. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to provide labour inspectors with conditions of service such as to ensure that they are independent of improper external influences, as required by Article 6 of the Convention, and to give effect, in law and practice, to Article 15(a) of the Convention, which prohibits inspectors from having any direct or indirect interest in the undertakings under their supervision. The Committee further requests the Government to provide information on the conditions of service of contractual employees of the administration with a certain record of service and on the measures taken to ensure their independence and impartiality.

Article 3. Further duties entrusted to labour inspectors. Conciliation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors continue to perform conciliation functions related to individual and collective disputes, and that the number of individual disputes was very high between 2017 and 2019 (8,580 in 2017 and 10,254 in 2019) but that thanks to the efforts of the labour inspectors this number decreased in 2020 and 2021. However, the Committee notes that this number remains very high, with 7,737 individual dispute cases in 2020 and 7,366 cases in 2021. The Committee recalls once again that, under Article 3(1)(a) and (2) of the Convention, the function of the system of labour inspection shall be to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, and that any further duties entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties. In its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection, paragraphs 72–74, the Committee considered that the time spent on conciliation may be detrimental to the discharge of primary inspection duties, as defined in Article 3(1) of the Convention, particularly when resources are limited. The Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary steps as soon as possible to ensure that, in accordance with Article 3(2), any further duties entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties, and to provide information on all progress made in this regard.

Article 4. Supervision and control of labour inspection by a central authority. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors organize joint inspections with other departments performing similar activities. Noting the absence of detailed information on this matter, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the coordination of all the units with labour inspection duties and powers under the supervision and control of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and to address the problems of overlapping functions between labour inspectors and officials of the National Social Welfare Fund (CNPS).

Article 7. Training of labour inspectors. The Committee notes that the Government, in its report on the Asbestos Convention, 1986 (No. 162), requests technical assistance from the Office to provide training for labour inspectors with regard to asbestos. Referring to its comments in relation to Convention No. 162, the Committee takes note of this request for technical assistance and expresses the hope that this assistance will be provided in the near future.

Articles 12 and 13. Powers of labour inspectors.In the absence of information on this matter, and referring to its previous comments, the Committee urges the Government to indicate whether the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s user guide is still in force and, if so, whether it has been modified to ensure that labour inspectors provided with proper credentials are empowered to enter freely and without previous notice at any hour of the day or night any workplace liable to inspection, in accordance with Article 12(1)(a) of the Convention.

Article 18. Adequate and effectively enforced penalties. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that labour inspectors recorded 55 infringements in 2020 and 26 in 2021. The Government also indicates that the number of enforcement notices has increased considerably, from 489 in 2017 to 1,917 in 2021. The Committee notes the CSTC’s claim in its observations that employers often wilfully ignore the infringement reports drawn up by labour inspectors and court decisions in favour of workers and that the latter are thus unable to assert their rights. The CSTC recommends that the Government should commit to implementing a more coercive process with regard to labour disputes in order to secure the observance of workers’ rights by employers. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure the imposition of adequate penalties for violations of the legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors. It further requests the Government to provide information on the number of infringements recorded, penalties imposed and the amount of fines collected.

Articles 20 and 21. Annual inspection report. The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains information on the number of labour inspectors, the number of inspections and the number of infringements recorded. However, the Committee once again notes that no inspection report has been received by the ILO. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary steps to publish and communicate to the Office, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, an annual labour inspection report containing the information required by Article 21(a)–(g).