ILO Convention No. 144 of 1976 & Convention No. 155 of 1983: adoption

Meeting report

LABOUR PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
4 June 2002
ILO CONVENTION NO 144 OF 1976 AND CONVENTION NO 155 OF 1983: ADOPTION

Acting Chairperson: Ms E. Thabethe

Documents handed out:
Convention No 144 concerning Tripartite Consultations to Promote the Implementation of International Standards, 1976
Convention No 155 on Occupational Safety and Health and Safety and the Working Environment, 1983

International Labour Organisation website

SUMMARY
The Committee agreed that National Assembly should ratify both Conventions.

MINUTES
Committee programme
Since there were not enough members to form a quorum, the Chairperson started the meeting by laying out the programme of the Committee for the coming weeks. The programme is as follows:
- The meeting on the HIV code and on the Child Labour report scheduled for 11 June 2002 has been cancelled.
- On 18 June 2002 there will be a briefing of the International Labour Organisation delegation.
- On 29 and 30 July 2002 there will be a visit to NEDLAC, CCMA and other institutions

She noted that this year there will be only one person who will be sent to the ILO conference in Geneva due to budget constraints and she named Mr S Mshudulu (ANC) as the their representative. She suggested that next year there should be a bigger, multiparty delegation since the ILO has so many committees which discuss issues relevant to their work.

Mr R Pillay (DP) agreed to the suggestion and Mr S Mshudulu (ANC) seconded him.

Adoption of Conventions
The Chairperson noted that the Conventions had already been discussed in a previous meeting - with representatives of the various political parties agreeing to them -
consequently it was not necessary to go over them again.

All members agreed that both Conventions should be ratified by Parliament.

It was felt by, among others, Mr Clelland-Stokes (DP) that before passing the Conventions in the National Assembly, it would be proper to have a brief debate about them since people do not know about them.

Mr Kettledas (Deputy Director-General of Labour Policy and Labour Market Programmes) welcomed the approval of both Conventions by the Committee.

With both Conventions approved, the meeting was adjourned