C129 - Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129)

• Subject Matter: Labour administration and inspection,Administration et inspection du travail,Administración e inspección del trabajo
• Court: International Labour Organization

Preamble

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Fifty-third Session on 4 June 1969, and

Noting the terms of existing international labour Conventions concerning labour inspection, such as the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947, which applies to industry and commerce, and the Plantations Convention, 1958, which covers a limited category of agricultural undertakings, and

Considering that international standards providing for labour inspection in agriculture generally are desirable, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to labour inspection in agriculture, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,

adopts this twenty-fifth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine the following Convention, which may be cited as the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969:

Article 1

1. 1. In this Convention the term agricultural undertaking means undertakings and parts of undertakings engaged in cultivation, animal husbandry including livestock production and care, forestry, horticulture, the primary processing of agricultural products by the operator of the holding or any other form of agricultural activity.
2. 2. Where necessary, the competent authority shall, after consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, define the line which separates agriculture from industry and commerce in such a manner as not to exclude any agricultural undertaking from the national system of labour inspection.
3. 3. In any case in which it is doubtful whether an undertaking or part of an undertaking is one to which this Convention applies, the question shall be settled by the competent authority.

Article 2

In this Convention the term legal provisions includes, in addition to laws and regulations, arbitration awards and collective agreements upon which the force of law is conferred and which are enforceable by labour inspectors.

Article 3

Each Member of the International Labour Organisation for which this Convention is in force shall maintain a system of labour inspection in agriculture.

Article 4

The system of labour inspection in agriculture shall apply to agricultural undertakings in which work employees or apprentices, however they may be remunerated and whatever the type, form or duration of their contract.

Article 5

1. 1. Any Member ratifying this Convention may, in a declaration accompanying its ratification, undertake also to cover by labour inspection in agriculture one or more of the following categories of persons working in agricultural undertakings
   • (a) tenants who do not engage outside help, sharecroppers and similar categories of agricultural workers;
   • (b) persons participating in a collective economic enterprise, such as members of a co-operative;
   • (c) members of the family of the operator of the undertaking, as defined by national laws or regulations.
2. 2. Any Member which has ratified this Convention may subsequently communicate to the Director-General of the International Labour Office a declaration undertaking to cover one or more of the categories of persons referred to in the preceding paragraph which are not already covered in virtue of a previous declaration.
3. 3. Each Member which has ratified this Convention shall indicate in its reports under article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation to what extent effect has been given or is proposed to be given to the provisions of the Convention in respect of such of the categories of persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article as are not covered in virtue of a declaration.

Article 6

1. 1. The functions of the system of labour inspection in agriculture shall be--
   • (a) to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, such as provisions relating to hours, wages, weekly rest and holidays, safety, health and welfare, the employment of women, children and young persons, and other connected matters, in so far as such provisions are enforceable by labour inspectors;
   • (b) to supply technical information and advice to employers and workers concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions;
   • (c) to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions and to submit to it proposals on the improvement of laws and regulations.
2. 2. National laws or regulations may give labour inspectors in agriculture advisory or enforcement functions regarding legal provisions relating to conditions of life of workers and their families.
3. 3. Any further duties which may be entrusted to labour inspectors in agriculture shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties or to prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers.

Article 7

1. 1. So far as is compatible with the administrative practice of the Member, labour inspection in agriculture shall be placed under the supervision and control of a central body.
2. 2. In the case of a federal State, the term central body may mean either one at federal level or one at the level of a federated unit.
3. 3. Labour inspection in agriculture...