Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1982)

The Committee notes the observations of the Independent Trade Union Alliance (ASI) on the application of the Convention, received on 22 August 2016, the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Commerce and Production of Venezuela (FEDECAMARAS), received on 30 August 2016, and the observations of the National Union of Workers of Venezuela (UNETE), the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV), the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions (CODESA), received on 8 and 12 September 2016 and on 12 October 2016. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments on the above observations.

Follow-up to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards (International Labour Conference, 105th Session, May–June 2016)

The Committee notes the discussion on the application of the Convention that took place in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2016. It notes that in its conclusions, the Conference Committee deplored the social and economic crisis affecting the country and the absence of an active employment policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. The Conference Committee likewise deplored the absence of social dialogue with the most representative organizations of workers and employers with a view to applying an active employment policy. Taking note of the information provided by the Government representative and the discussion that followed, the Conference Committee urged the Government to: with the assistance of the ILO, develop, without delay, in consultation with the most representative workers’ and employers’ organizations, an employment policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment; implement, without delay, concrete measures to put in practice an employment policy with a view to stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underemployment; establish without delay a structured body for tripartite social dialogue in the country and take immediate action to build a climate of trust based on respect for employers’ and workers’ organizations with a view to promoting solid and stable industrial relations; implement all commitments made in the session of the Governing Body, March 2016, to follow the plan of action for consultation with social partners that includes stages and specific time frames for its implementation; and report in detail to the Committee of Experts on the application in law and practice of Convention No. 122. The Conference Committee concluded with the statement that the Government should accept an ILO tripartite high-level mission before the next Session of the International Labour Conference in order to assess progress towards compliance with these conclusions. The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not responded to the recommendation of the Conference Committee that it should accept an ILO tripartite high-level mission in order to assess progress towards compliance with that committee’s conclusions before the June 2017 Session of the International Labour Conference, and hopes that the Government will shortly implement that recommendation.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Implementation of the employment policy in the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy. Measures to respond to the economic crisis. The Committee notes that in the course of the discussions in June 2016 on the case concerning the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela before the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, a Government representative referred to the report submitted in 2015 indicating that the country has a sustained employment policy, namely the Economic and Social Development Plan 2007–13. In that report, reference is made to the Second Socialist Plan for the Economic and Social Development of the Nation, 2013–19, which, according to the Government constitutes a strategic roadmap for the transition towards Bolivarian socialism in the twenty-first century. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government on the increases in the basic monthly minimum wage and the various decrees on labour immunity implemented since July 2002. The Government indicates that in order to secure a return to growth and reinvigorate the national economy, it has put in place six strategic measures known as the “Bolivarian economic agenda”, which includes an enhanced plan to protect employment, wages and pensions. The ASI, for its part, states that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has no employment policy. The IOE and FEDECAMARAS assert that the macroeconomic planning for the country includes no coordinated policy for the joint implementation of employment plans. They indicate that the absence of any coherent employment policy is responsible for an enormous rise in the poverty index, from 53 per cent in 2014 to 76 per cent in 2015. They add that the increase has been even more marked in the extreme poverty index, which rose from 25 per cent in 2014 to 53 per cent in 2015. The employers’ organizations further observe that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela currently has the highest inflation in the world, with a monthly rate for July 2016 of 23.2 per cent and a cumulative rate by July 2016 of 240 per cent, and with a rate for the year from July 2015 to July 2016 amounting to 565 per cent, which has demolished the purchasing power of Venezuelan workers. A great many production plants are out of operation for lack of raw materials and production is seriously hampered. The trade union organizations UNETE, CTV, CGT and CODESA report that the Government provides no information on the situation, level and trends in employment and that there are no labour market data that could serve as a basis for regular review of the employment policy measures adopted within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy; nor is there any information on the measures, and their results, adopted in the framework of the Economic and Social Development Plan for 2007–13. The abovementioned organizations further indicate that the Government hides information on trends in youth employment and that there are no measures or policies to promote the lasting integration of young people in the labour market. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken to develop and adopt an active employment policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment that fully complies with the Convention, and on the consultations held with the social partners to this end.

Labour market trends. In its report, the Government states that the economy grew between 2010 and 2015 and that women’s participation increased by 9.2 per cent. It indicates that in the second half of 2015, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had an activity rate of 63.4 per cent for an active population of 14,136,349 persons aged 15 years and over, which represents a drop of 1.2 per cent over 2014. The male activity rate was 77.7 per cent as compared to a rate of 49.3 per cent for women in the second half of 2015. It indicates that women’s inactivity rate rose by 7.1 per cent in 2014–15. The Government reports a significant drop in the unemployment rate from 8.5 per cent in 2010 to 6.7 per cent in 2015, and indicates that at the close of 2015 the country had a 92.6 per cent employment rate. In its observations, the ASI indicates that employment statistics do not cover underemployment or precarious employment, and asserts that open unemployment, when added to the number of the employed who work 15 hours or less, points to a labour market deficit in the country amounting to 11 per cent. The ASI further reports that in the last 15 years, the figures for unemployment have been the highest ever recorded. Furthermore, average incomes, regardless of occupational category, border on the minimum wage, which reflects the lack of any wage policy linked to productivity levels. It reports that in 2014, households living in poverty reached 48.4 per cent. According to the IOE and FEDECAMARAS, the lack of social dialogue in the country has adversely affected employment levels, and the activity rate in April 2016 is lower than those recorded in 2014 and 2015, and the corresponding inactivity rate is higher. They report a drop in the percentage of workers employed in the formal sector, but also a reduction in the percentage of workers in the informal economy, which they attribute to a fall in the number of employers caused by the negative effects of the economic and employment generating policies that the Government developed without consultation. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information, including up-to-date statistics, on labour market trends in the country. Please also provide information on the impact of the measures taken to give effect to the Convention.

Transitional labour regime. The Committee takes note of Resolution No. 9855 of 22 July 2016, adopted under the State of Exception and Economic Emergency declared by the Government, which establishes a transitional labour regime that is compulsory and strategic for the revival of the agro-food sector, and which provides for workers in public and private enterprises to be placed in other enterprises in the sector except in the enterprise that generated the original employment relationship. The IOE and FEDECAMARAS indicate that the Ministerial Resolution provides for the temporary placement of workers in enterprises in the sector, known as requesting enterprises, to which the Government has applied some special measure in order to boost the agro-food industry. Under the Resolution, requesting enterprises may apply to receive a certain number of workers from public or private enterprises. The employers’ organizations indicate that it is not the worker but the requesting enterprise (owned by the State) that determines the transfer of the worker to another enterprise, and assert that this is contrary to the principle of the Convention which requires member States to develop, in coordination with the social partners, an active policy designed to promote full, freely chosen employment. They further indicate that some Government representatives have said that there is an error in the Resolution which will be corrected shortly so as to make it clear that the Resolution applies only on a voluntary basis; however, to date there has been no amendment and the Resolution remains mandatory. The IOE and FEDECAMARAS allege that because of the Resolution staff costs have doubled in enterprises that generated labour relationships. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how the principle laid down in the Convention requiring the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment is applied under the transitional labour regime established by Resolution No. 9855.

Youth employment. The Government reports that in 2015, the number of unemployed young persons stood at 304,933, which means that young people accounted for 32.3 per cent of all the unemployed in the country. The Government also provides information showing that the rate of unemployment among workers between 15 and 24 years of age is virtually double the national unemployment average. In 2015, while the national unemployment rate stood at 6.7 per cent, the rate for young people reached 14.7 per cent. The Government refers to the Act for Productive Youth, No. 1.392 of 13 November 2014, which aims to promote entry into the job market for young people and enshrines their right to decent work (section 6). The Government also reports that responsibility for implementing the policy on vocational training and training for work lies with the National Institute for Socialist Training and Education (INCES), which was created, inter alia, to promote vocational training for men and women workers, including training and apprenticeships for young people. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the courses and workshops offered by the INCES. In June 2016, a Government representative informed the Committee on the Application of Standards that the INCES would train 50,000 young people in various occupational fields and that under the “Knowledge and Work” mission, over 1 million persons had been integrated into the economic and productive system. According to the Government’s report, young people between 15 and 30 years of age account for 35.5 per cent of the country’s total population and 51.1 per cent of the unemployed. Furthermore, women have a lower participation rate than men: out of every ten young people in employment, seven are men and three are women. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information, disaggregated by sex, on trends in youth employment. It also reiterates its request to the Government to provide an evaluation, in consultation with the social partners, of the active employment policy measures implemented to reduce youth unemployment and facilitate the entry of young persons into the labour market, particularly for the most disadvantaged young persons.

Development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to its request. Consequently, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to encourage the creation of SMEs and promote their productivity, and to create a climate conducive to the generation of employment in such enterprises.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. In June 2016, a Government representative indicated that in early 2016 the National Council for Productive Economy (CNEP) was created as a forum for tripartite dialogue which deals with the development of strategic economic areas in the country and which has held more than 300 meetings. The Committee notes the observations of the IOE and FEDECAMARAS, indicating that the Government is still in default of its obligation to consult the representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations in developing the employment policy, and reporting that FEDECAMARAS, despite its representativeness (a membership of some 300 Chambers), has not been consulted by the Government for 17 years on the formulation or coordination of the employment policy. The employers’ organizations further assert that the Government has not met the commitment it made to the ILO Governing Body in March 2016 to implement a plan of action that includes establishing a forum for dialogue and a time frame for meetings with FEDECAMARAS and trade union organizations of independent workers. FEDECAMARAS also indicates that the National Council for Productive Economy appointed by the President in January 2016 has not been convened. The workers’ federations UNETE, CTV, CGT and CODESA state that workers’ organizations are not consulted about the development of employment policies and that the Government has not taken into account the views of employers’ and workers’ organizations in formulating and implementing employment policies and programmes. The Committee refers the Government to its General Survey of 2010 concerning employment instruments, in which it emphasizes that social dialogue is essential in normal times and becomes even more so in times of crisis. The employment instruments require member States to promote and engage in genuine tripartite consultations (General Survey on employment instruments, 2010, paragraph 794). The Committee again reiterates its request to the Government to provide information that includes specific examples of how account has been taken of the views of employers’ and workers’ organizations in the formulation and implementation of employment policies and programmes. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government in relation to the National Council for the Productive Economy supplied during the discussion held in the Governing Body in November 2016, and requests the Government to provide information on the council’s activities that concern the issues covered by the Convention.