Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - Mexico (Ratification: 1982)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report received on 14 September 2010. It also notes the comments from the National Union of Workers of “Caminos y Puentes Federales de Ingresos y Servicios Conexos” dated 20 May 2010 and the Government’s reply thereto dated 10 October 2011, as well as the new comments by the same trade union dated 30 August 2011, received at the Office on 2 September 2011 and sent to the Government on 27 September. The Committee requests the Government to make any comment it considers appropriate in relation to the last comments made by the trade union organization.

Follow-up to the recommendations of the tripartite committee (representation under article 24 of the ILO Constitution). With reference to its comments under the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155), the Committee notes that in the recommendations adopted on March 2009 by the Governing Body on the representation made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution concerning an industrial accident that occurred at the Pasta de Conchos mine in February 2006, the Government was invited, in consultation with the social partners, to continue to take the necessary measures inter alia to monitor closely the organization and effective operation of its system of labour inspection taking due account of the Labour Administration Recommendation, 1978 (No. 158), including Paragraph 26(1) thereof, and to review the potential the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), affords in terms of support for the measures the Government is taking in order to improve the application of its laws and regulations in the area of occupational safety and health in mines (document GB.304/14/8 (Rev.), paragraph 99(6)(b)(iv) and (d)).

The Committee notes that the National Union of Workers of “Caminos y Puentes Federales de Ingresos y Servicios Conexos” alleges non-compliance by the Government of Mexico with the tripartite committee’s recommendations. It indicates that:

• (i) the Government has promoted through the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health the transfer of its labour inspection responsibilities to enterprises through the Occupational Safety and Health Self-Management Programme, and the replacement of occupational safety and health inspection visits conducted by public servants, with external audits carried out by private enterprises;
• (ii) the Government has refused to include the organization of the families of the workers who died in the Pasta de Conchos mine in discussions on the measures to be implemented in order to comply with the tripartite committee’s recommendations;
• (iii) there is no reliable database to consult in order to ascertain the total number of legal, illegal and clandestine mines in the coalfield; this precludes the formulation of any suitable public policies and is a disincentive to proper application of the legislation on coalmining; although Mexican Official Standard NOM-032-STPS-2008 on safety in underground coalmines applies throughout the national territory to all underground mines carrying on activities relating to the extraction of coal, and hence to so-called pocitos (small mines), the oldest and most dangerous form of coalmine in the region, which operate in clandestinity, the Government makes no mention of them in the information supplied;
• (iv) the adoption of NOM-032-STPS-2008 has not secured any change in the region and the fines imposed are not sufficiently dissuasive. Furthermore, the measures taken by inspectors are frequently ignored (as examples the National Union cites the Ferber mine, where a miner died while the closure order was in force, and the Lulú mine, which was closed following the death of two miners but the workers were not so informed);
• (v) enterprises give false information to the STPS inspectors, who fail to verify it; the National Union advocates publishing inspectors’ reports, orders and verifications on the relevant official website;
• (vi) the workers receive no training for the work they perform and are unaware of the new NOM-032-STPS-2008.

The Government, for its part, states that:

• (i) the labour inspectorate has been strengthened through training, supervisory and control measures and dissemination of the inspectorate’s work; as well as the creation of a self-evaluation culture through the provision of advice and guidance to employers on the most effective means of complying with labour law especially the legislation on occupational safety and health, and the imposition of adequate penalties on offenders;
• (ii) the Directorate-General of the Federal Labour Inspectorate supervises the performance of inspection duties by the federal labour delegations as regards administrative and operational aspects of their work (running of databases, conduct of inspection visits, linkage with alternate inspection programmes, analysis and assessment of reports), through visits to labour delegations, subdelegations and federal officers for the purposes of technical assistance, supervision and monitoring and evaluation, to ensure that they perform their duties in accordance with the guidelines issued (between December 2006 and July 2010, 144 assistance visits were conducted);
• (iii) the Directorate-General of the Federal Labour Inspectorate and the federal labour delegations supervise the work of labour inspectors in order to reduce and avoid any corruption in the inspectorate (between December 2006 and July 2010, the Directorate-General of the Federal Labour Inspectorate carried out 164 such visits and the federal labour delegations, 4,242);
• (iv) the Federal Labour Inspectorate has implemented a strategy to ensure better monitoring of compliance with its recommendations, in order to secure compliance by all medium-sized and large mining enterprises engaged in the extraction of coal with the occupational safety and health regulations and thus avert risks; remedial measures are also applied. The strategy consists of two procedures, one of which applies if the federal labour inspector detects conditions hazardous to the health, physical integrity and life of the workers and the other, if the inspector detects shortcomings that involve no immediate risk but that must be remedied;
• (v) the Federal Government has held specific meetings with the Pasta de Conchos Family Organization and the families of the miners who were killed in the Pasta de Conchos mine during 2007 and 2011, in order to guarantee the respect of their rights and discuss and examine a possible recovery of the bodies of the victims;
• (vi) in agreement with the trade unions and organizations of employers, there have been efforts to strengthen the occupational safety and health committees in the workplaces covered by the Federal Inspectorate;
• (vii) in order to monitor and promote the application of Mexican Official Standard NOM-032-STPS-2008, awareness-raising action about safety in underground coalmines was carried out and a course organized for federal labour inspectors and coal producers.
• (viii) the differences in the number of mines recognized by various public institutions are due to the fact that each one of them has information depending on the functions it carries out. Thus, the information coming from the Secretariat of Labour and Social Security (STPS) refers to the number of workplaces and does not necessarily coincide with the information established by the Secretariat for the Economy which has at its disposal information mainly on the number of mining concessions. The database of the STPS contains data obtained through labour inspectors having carried out inspection visits, as well as information exchanged with institutions like the Secretariat for the Economy, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). The INEGI and the Secretariat of the Economy transmitted information to the Directorate-General for Inspection with regard to mining concessions in force in September 2010 in order to update the registries relevant to this economic sector;
• (ix) with regard to the registry of illegal mines, the labour authority has at its disposal, since March 2010, the so-called GeoInfoMex System of the Geological Service which through satellite images allows for the identification of any mine including the pocitos (small mines). This tool has allowed for the identification in May 2011 of the existence of 563 vertical drills, 297 of which were active and will be subsequently inspected;
• (x) the Consultative State Subcommittee for Occupational Safety and Health carried out important activities like the promotion of training of inspection staff on the basis of the NOM-032-STPS-2008, the elaboration of needs assessments in the area of occupational safety and health in the carbon producing region of Coahuila with a view to giving priority to implementation plans, programmes and actions, the promotion through the National Institution for Adult Education of basic education for miners in order to enable them to make the most of the training provided by employers and the support by the IMSS to mining enterprises in carrying out risk assessments including statistical analyses, etc.; and
• (xi) the issuance of the Mexican Official Standard NOM-032-STPS-2008 constitutes progress for the prevention of future accidents and the Government has taken measures in order to increase the amounts of pecuniary sanctions through the Bill on labour law reform of 18 March 2010, which is under examination by Congress.

Taking note of the measures adopted for the development, in collaboration with other organizations and public institutions, of reliable databases which allow, among other things, to calculate the total number of mines, including the pocitos (small mines), the Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures adopted or envisaged in order to strengthen the coordination of the labour inspection system as part of the labour administration system (Article 4 of the Convention) and ensure that the geographical distribution of the inspection services in relation to the needs of the various areas.

The Committee would be grateful, in particular, if the Government would provide statistical information (annual report) on the inspection activities conducted in the mining sector and especially in coalmines, for the purpose of monitoring application of the provisions set forth in NOM-032-STPS-2008, specifying the number of mines visited among the 297 identified as liable to inspection (indicating as far as possible the inspections carried out in the so called “pocitos”), the number and nature of contraventions found and the penalties imposed as well as the preventive measures with immediate effect ordered by labour inspectors and finally, the number of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease in the carbon mining sector (Paragraphs 20 and 25(2) of Recommendation No. 158).

The Committee also asks the Government to continue to take steps, in consultation with the social partners, including the organization of the families of the miners who lost their lives at the Pasta de Conchos mine, to monitor closely the organization and efficient running of the labour inspection system as part of the labour administration system (Article 5 of the Convention).

In particular, the Committee would also be grateful if the Government would send information on the measures adopted or envisaged to enhance the independence of inspectors as part of the staff of the labour administration system (Article 10) and to provide adequate human and material resources for the effective performance of inspectors’ duties (Paragraph 26(1) and (2)(a) and (b) of Recommendation No. 158).

With regard to Article 5 of the Convention, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would give an account of how the consultations held in the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health and the strengthening of the occupational safety and health committees in enterprises have affected the operation of the labour inspectorate, particularly in the coalmining sector. Taking note moreover of the carrying out by the Consultative State Subcommittee for Occupational Safety and Health of training activities for inspectors as well as needs assessments, the Committee requests the Government to communicate details on these activities and their effects as well as the annual report on the activities of this subcommittee, if available.

Lastly, observing that the Government provides no information at all on the possible ratification of Convention No. 81, in response to the request of the tripartite committee, the Committee urges the Government to examine, in consultation with the employers’ organizations and trade unions, the potential of Convention No. 81 to support the measures being adopted to reinforce application of its legislation on occupational safety and health in mines. It trusts that the Government will take the necessary steps to carry out such consultations and that it will be in a position to provide information promptly on the results.

The Committee expects that the labour law reform will take into account the need to strengthen the labour inspection system in line with the recommendation of the tripartite committee and reminds the Government that it may avail itself of technical assistance from the Office.

The Committee also refers the Government to its comments under Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155).

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]