Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - Belize (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s brief report received at the ILO on 25 February 2009, replying to its repeated requests for information (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008), and of the draft organizational chart of the Labour Department attached to the report which, according to the Government, draws on recommendations made by the ILO with a view to efficient operation, but has not yet been approved.

National labour policy and national employment policy. The Committee notes that no national labour policy or national employment policy has as yet been formulated. Further to its comments of 2008 on the application of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), in which it noted the Government’s announcement that a national policy on child labour was to be drawn up, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the role played by the labour administration bodies involved in this operation and would indicate any measures taken for the framing of a national policy on labour in general and on employment in particular, inter alia to respond to the global financial crisis.

Article 10 of the Convention. Human resources and material means for labour administration. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken to provide labour administration bodies with staff who are adequate in strength and suitably qualified to perform the duties assigned to them, and with adequate material means and financial resources. Please indicate the distribution of staff by grade among the various bodies of the labour administration system during the period covered by the next report.

Articles 4, 5 and 6 and Part IV of the report form. Structure and working of the labour administration system. According to the draft organizational chart appended to the report, the Labour Department should consist of three central units and various external bodies and should operate under the management and supervision of the Labour Commissioner. According to the Government’s explanations, the Tripartite Body appointed under section 22(1) of the 2000 Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations (registration, recognition and status) Act, No. 24, which was in operation between 2003 and 2006, no longer exists. However, the draft organizational chart provides that such a body should be created and attached to the Labour Department.

The Committee takes note of this information, but finds it insufficient to serve as a basis for any assessment of the extent to which the Convention is applied in law and in practice. It observes in particular that there is no information allowing it to ascertain that measures have been taken to ensure that in the labour administration system there is consultation, cooperation and negotiation between the public authorities and the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations (or employers’ and workers’ representatives). The Committee consequently urges the Government to describe the labour administration system as it stands during the period covered by the next report; to specify the role played by each of the bodies comprising it, including the Tripartite Body provided for in the draft organizational chart; and to send any relevant texts and documents, together with excerpts of reports on the work of the various bodies of the labour administration showing how they operate in practice.