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

Holidays with Pay (Agriculture) Convention, 1952 (No. 101) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 1998)

Previous comment

The Committee notes that a Wages Regulation Order containing new provisions applicable to agricultural workers was adopted in 2017.

Article 6 of the Convention. Division of annual holiday. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that there are no legislative provisions regulating the possible division of annual paid holiday in parts, and that in practice, this is left to each agricultural establishment to decide. The Committee notes that the Government does not provide information on the matter. The Committee once again wishes to recall, in this regard, that the purpose of an annual holiday is to provide the worker with a sufficient period of free time to ensure physical and mental rest. The Committee once again refers, in this connection, to paragraph 6 of the Holidays with Pay (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1952 (No. 93), according to which workers should have the right to take at least part of their holiday in an uninterrupted period which should not be less than a prescribed minimum. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any further developments with regard to considering the possibility of introducing appropriate provisions setting out the conditions and limits within which the annual holiday may be divided into parts.

Article 7(3). Payment of cash equivalent of allowances in kind. The Committee notes that according to section 3 of the Employers and Servants Act (Cap. 206) wages shall be paid in money and not otherwise. The Committee takes note of this information which addresses its previous request.

Article 9. Termination of the employment relationship. The Committee notes that the Government does not provide information on this matter. The Committee also notes that section 4(2) of the Schedule of the Wages Regulation (Agricultural Workers) Order, 2017 continues to provide that the employer must pay the worker for the proportionate part of the vacation due to him at the time of termination, where the service of an agricultural worker is terminated during the second or subsequent year of employment. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate how it is ensured that workers dismissed during their first year of employment, before they have taken a holiday due to them, are paid in respect of every day of holiday due at the time of termination.