Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Algeria (Ratification: 1962)

Article 2 of the Convention. Inclusion of labour clauses in public contracts. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary additional measures in the near future to ensure the full application of the Convention and to keep the Office informed of any further developments in this respect. The Committee notes that the Government has approved new regulations for public contracts implemented by Presidential Decree No. 15-247, of 16 September 2015, governing public contracts and public service delegation contracts, which entered into force on 20 December 2015. The Committee notes that these new regulations do not give full effect to Article 2 of the Convention, which provides that public contracts shall include clauses specifically ensuring to the workers concerned wages, hours of work and other conditions of labour which are not less favourable than those established either by collective agreement, by arbitration award or by national laws or regulations. Furthermore, the “internal regulations” to which the Government refers in its report, under which the employer is required to set out the rules regarding the technical organization of the work, occupational safety and health and discipline, are not sufficient to ensure the full application of Article 2 of the Convention. In this context, the Committee recalls its previous comments, in which it emphasized that the Convention also requires the fulfilment of other obligations, namely consultation of the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned with respect to the terms of the labour clauses (Article 2(3)); the posting of the applicable conditions of work in the workplace, including the wages paid, and not only, as indicated in the Government’s report, the hours of work, periods of closure for leave and safety instructions, all with a view to duly informing the workers involved (Article 4); and, in the event of failure to observe and apply the labour clauses, adequate penalties such as the withholding of public contracts or payments to the enterprises concerned (Article 5). In this respect, the Committee notes that the Decree of 19 December 2015, to which the Government refers in its report, does not give effect to Article 5 of the Convention and concerns corruption rather than the working conditions of workers. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to give full effect to the Convention with particular attention to the requirements of consultation, adequate notice and dissuasive sanctions, as mentioned above and to provide the Office with information on any further developments.