Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Hours of Work and Rest Periods (Road Transport) Convention, 1979 (No. 153) - Uruguay (Ratification: 1989)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in 2019 and the observations of the Inter-Union Assembly of Workers – Workers’ National Convention (PIT-CNT), sent with that report, as well as the additional information provided by the Government in the light of the decision taken by the Government Body at its 338th Session (June 2020).

Articles 6 and 10 of the Convention. Maximum total driving time. Means of supervision. The Committee notes that PIT-CNT alleges that, in practice, the limits provided under Article 6 (a maximum total driving time of nine hours a day and 48 hours a week) are largely exceeded, and that it is common for a worker to be available between 12 and 16 hours a day with cases of up to 64 hours of continuous work. The PIT-CNT considers that mechanisms to control working-hours should be put in place, and in that regard refers to the Integrated System for Cargo Transport Control (SICTRAC). The Committee also notes that the Government refers, in the information it provided in 2020, to recommendations by the Group 13 Wages Council (subgroup 7 (National Cargo Transport by Road) and subgroup 8 (International Cargo Transport)), adopted in March 2020, in response to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those recommendations provide the following: (i) to allow the enterprise, solely when the worker is in full agreement, to grant leave as a measure prior to recourse to unemployment insurance; (ii) to draw up a list of volunteers who, as a result of their health or family situation, etc. wish to make use of unemployment insurance; (iii) put in place a rotating system of unemployment insurance, within the possibilities of each enterprise and the types of work carried out by each worker; (iv) make use of special, partial unemployment insurance, sharing out the work among all workers, so as to maintain, to the extent possible, an active link to work. The Committee understands that the situation alleged by the PIT-CNT may have changed drastically as a consequence of the health crisis. The Committee is aware of the difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the road transport sector. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the development of the situation, including on the implementation of SICTRAC or any other measure that may have been adopted in that regard.