Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) - Argentina (Ratification: 1988)

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The Committee notes the observations of the General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic (CGT-RA), received on 23 August 2022.

Article 3 of the Convention. National policy. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s indications in its report that the Chamber of Deputies adopted, in August 2023, a majority ruling in favour of a Bill on equal parental leave and allowances, which provides for legislative amendments to: (1) extend the grounds for special leave (for example, for the care an ill family member, dependent or close friend, the school adjustment period for children in kindergarten, pre-school and first grade, attendance at adoption proceedings, termination of pregnancy, and the use of assisted reproduction techniques); (2) increase the leave for pregnant persons to 126 days and the leave for non-pregnant persons who have a child to 45 days, and establish leave of 126 days for adoptive persons, with the possibility to extend these periods of leave to 180 days in the case of the birth or adoption of a child with disabilities or chronic illness; (4) establish a presumption of dismissal due to pregnancy, birth, adoption, use of assisted reproduction techniques, or marriage or civil partnership, if the dismissal occurs within the specific periods for these situations; (5) extend the application of several provisions that are currently only for women who have a child (such as the option to take leave of absence or the right to return to work) to pregnant, non-pregnant and adoptive persons; (6) allocate parental allowances to self-employed workers and contributors to the single tax scheme (monotributistas); (7) extend parental and care leave to regimes for domestic workers in private homes and for temporary agricultural personnel; and (8) include months of leave of absence in the calculation of pensions and retirement payments. The Government also refers to: (1) the creation of an inter-ministerial taskforce on care policies (Administrative Decision No. 1745/2020), responsible for coordinating and reorienting care-related actions and policies from a gender perspective; and (2) the universal child allowance, indicating that this allowance covers families in which the mothers and/or fathers work as unregistered wage earners or are self-employed in the informal sector, are unemployed or work in private homes, or are contributors to the single tax scheme. The Committee also notes the observations of the CGT-RA, according to which, while there is currently a legal framework that regulates, in a dispersed manner, some aspects of the balancing of work, family and personal life, it does not cover all aspects of the Convention, and there are disparities regarding access to leave in the public sector and for workers in the informal economy. The Committee requests the Government to provide: (i) information on the progress made in the adoption of the Bill on equal parental leave and allowances, and particularly on the extension of the different types of leave for family reasons to all workers; and (ii) a copy of the text once adopted. It also requests the Government to provide information on the policies adopted by the inter-ministerial taskforce on care policies.

Article 4.Equality in terms and conditions of employment. The Government reports that: (1) the Employment Promotion Programme 2022 considers persons with dependant minors as priority in terms of access to incentives or allowances for the development of their career; (2) measures were adopted to justify the non-attendance at work of workers with family responsibilities during the temporary closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) Act No. 27.225 provides for the interruption of working time during telework for reasons related to the provision of care. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that, in its previous comments, it suggested that Act No. 24.716 of 1996 be amended to allow for the special leave for mothers with a child born with Down’s syndrome to also be applied to fathers. In this regard, the Committee observes that the Bill on equal parental leave and allowances proposes the repeal of this Act and, in parallel, the amendment of section 158 of the Employment Contracts Act to establish special leave for “all persons who work” for the care or attention of a family member or dependant with disabilities. In order to evaluate the impact of the different measures adopted, the Committee requests the Government to provide information, disaggregated by sex, on: (i) the impact of Employment Promotion Programme on the income of workers with family responsibilities in the labour market; and (ii) the number of workers benefiting from the various measures on leave and flexible working hours for the provision of care.

Article 5. Childcare and family services. The Government indicates that: (1) under the National Early Childhood Plan, new early childhood centres have been established and the existing ones have been strengthened; (2) in 2021, the Care Infrastructure Programme was adopted (Resolution No. 252/2021) to extend and bolster existing services, as well as the Programme on the infrastructure of childhood development centres (Resolution No. 59/2021), which seeks, inter alia, to expand the availability offered by such centres and reverse existing inequalities in terms of time available for activities other than caregiving, which mainly affect women; and (3) the Federal Care Map was created, which is a web portal that enables the public to search for the availability of centres and services for early childhood, older persons and persons with disabilities. Concerning agricultural workers, the Government states that, through the Buena Cosecha (Good Harvest) Programme, centres (Buena Cosecha centres) in which dependent children under 18 years of such workers are cared for and kept safe continue to be created and strengthened (107 centres in 2021 and 148 in 2022), and that agreements were signed with several enterprises in the sector. The Committee also notes with interest that, according to the Government, under section 179 of the Employment Contracts Act and its implementing regulations (Decree No. 144/2022), establishments with more than 100 employees must provide childcare facilities for dependent children aged from 45 days to three years of age inclusive, of workers during their working hours. The Committee observes that, according to section 3 of the Agricultural Labour Scheme, the Employment Contracts Act is applicable to workers engaged in fruit harvesting and/or packing. The Committee also notes the CGT-RA’s indications in its report that the Cuidar en Igualdad (Caring in Equality) Bill includes the requirement for the Ministry of Public Works to allocate at least 8.5 per cent of its budget to the expansion of public care infrastructure. The Committee welcomes the numerous measures adopted by the Government and requests it to provide information on the impact of these measures on the labour market participation of workers with family responsibilities.

Article 6. Awareness-raising measures. The Government refers to various awareness-raising campaigns such as the Cuidar en Igualdad national campaign, which seeks to recover existing knowledge, know-how and practices related to care for the formulation of policies and to raise awareness on care, and the platform Calculadora del Cuidado (Care Calculator) to calculate the duration and economic contribution of domestic and care tasks. The Committee notes this information.

Article 7. Vocational guidance and training. The Government refers to a series of measures such as the promotion of childcare facilities in vocational training institutions when those institutions offer in-person training courses, the collaboration of the National Directorate for Lifelong Learning with the National Secretariat for Children, Young Persons and Family to design a comprehensive policy, and prioritize young persons with dependent children in the allocation of places on career guidance and vocational training courses. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of persons with family responsibilities who benefit from these measures, disaggregated by sex.

Article 11.Participation of workers’ and employers’ organizations. The Government indicates that, in the context of the Cuidar en Igualdad national campaign, territorial hubs for dialogue on care were established in order for the different stakeholders involved in the local organization of care to exchange experiences and strategies, identify local needs and demands, raise awareness, jointly develop minimum agreements, and propose and prioritize joint action to reverse the feminization of care. The Committee also notes the CGT-RA’s indications that the establishment of special leave was addressed in several collective agreements in 2019 and 2020. The Committee notes this information.