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WORK Law 25.212 Ratify the Federal Labour Covenant

Sanctioned: November 24, 1999

Promulgated: December 23, 1999

The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation assembled in Congress, etc., sanction with force of Law:

ARTICLE 1 Ratifícase, in what is the subject of competence of the H. Congress of the Nation the " FEDERAL COVENANT OF WORK", signed on 29 July 1998 between the NATIONAL EXECUTIVE POWER and the representatives of the PROVINCIES and the GOVERNMENT OF THE AUTONOMA OF GOODS, which as ANEX "A" is an integral part of this law. ARTICLE 2 Contact the national executive branch.

IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE VEINTICUATRO DAYS OF THE MONTH OF NOVENTY AND NEW YEAR.

# 25,212 EL

ALBERTO R. PIERRI. . EDUARDO MENEM. . Esther H. Pereyra Arandía de Pérez Pardo. . Juan C. Oyarzún.

FEDERAL COVENANT OF WORK

In Buenos Aires City, on the 29th of July 1998, the President of the Argentine Nation, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, the Minister of the Interior and the representatives of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Córdoba, Corrientes, Chaco, Chubut, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Juan

DECLARAN:

That work is the activity that most unequivocally expresses, identifies and characterizes the human condition and that therefore dignifies and enriches those who exercise it within an organized community.

That, citing his Holiness John Paul II, "the work, as a man's problem, occupies the very center of the social question", then becoming "in a key, perhaps the essential key to the whole social question".

That the technological, organizational and productive changes that have taken place in recent decades in the international labor scenario cannot be used as an argument to ignore the dimension of work as a vehicle for development and growth of men.

On the contrary, these transformations provide the opportunity to imagine and put into practice new and creative actions that contribute to the improvement of the working conditions and, therefore, to the lives of the inhabitants of the Nation.

That hierarchy, transparency and stability of work in all its forms is an indelible duty of the National State and the Provinces.

That the allocation of competencies, which the federal system of government imposes in the field of labour, should not become an obstacle to the implementation of policies and actions throughout the Republic that seek general well-being but, on the contrary, it offers the possibility of adding human and material wills and resources throughout the country.

That, as part of these work-protection duties, the National State, the Provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires must ensure equal opportunities for all people who are at work or who seek to join productive activities, so that the situation of the most vulnerable or insufficiently protected sectors of society, such as unregistered workers, children and the disabled, should be addressed, ensuring equal opportunities for women.

That this special attention required by the above-mentioned sectors should not be taken independently by each jurisdiction, but rather the cooperation and coordination of efforts and functions are required to achieve the common objective on the basis of equal opportunities and homogeneity of the regulations.

That the observance of compliance with labour regulations, while an irrenunciable duty of Governments, does not in itself guarantee the success in combating the reiteration of procedures and conduct contrary to the social nature of work, then it is necessary to adopt additional measures that will help to establish a collective awareness of the importance of protecting work in all its forms, extending to all workers the duties, rights and benefits of social security systems.

That such measures should also be directed towards achieving the commitment of social actors through the participation of representative organizations of employers and workers and other social institutions.

That in order to coordinate the activities of the competent bodies in the field of labour of the Nation, the Provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the Federal Council of Labour Administrations must be institutionalized in order to ensure greater efficiency in the measures to be adopted, under the principles of cooperation and co-responsibility.

That in order to ensure the unity and legal security of the nation in the field of labour, achieving also a better coordination of the activity of monitoring compliance with labour legislation, the general regime of sanctions for labour offences must be unified.

That in order to achieve such objectives the parties, ACUERDAN promotes and promotes the relevant legal mechanisms for the approval of the following Projects, Plans and Programs:

FIRST El The "Federal Labour Council" creation project, which is added as Annex I and is part of this Agreement.

SECOND El The "General Regime of Occupational Infruit Sanctions", which is added as Annex II and is an integral part of this Agreement.

THIRD El The "National Plan for the Improvement of Employment Quality", which is added as Annex III to this Agreement and is an integral part of it.

FOURTH El The "National Programme of Action on Child Labour", which is added as Annex IV to this Agreement and is an integral part of it.

QUINTO El The "Plan for Equal Opportunities between Men and Women in the Labour World", which is added as Annex V to this Agreement and is an integral part of it.

SEXTO El The "National Plan for Labour Insertion and Improvement of the Employment of Disabled Persons", which is added as Annex VI to this Agreement and is an integral part of it.

SEPTIMO S The parties are obliged to contribute to the achievement of the specific objectives and targets of each of the Plans and Programmes, participating in them with the means and procedures that will be established and agreed upon in each case.

OCTAVO The signatory parties are obliged to send this Agreement, as the case may be, to the Honorable Congress of the Nation and to the respective legislatures, within ten (10) working days of this signing, requesting its ratification in order to acquire a hierarchy of law in each of them.

In conformity with evidence the parties subscribe to the present FEDERAL COVENANT OF WORK, at the location and date indicated in the heading.

///syphic in my capacity as General Writer of the Government of the Nation, that the above signatures correspond to the President of the Nation, to the Minister of the Interior, to the Minister of Labour and Social Security, to the governors of the Province or his representatives, to the Vice-President of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, and have been placed in my presence in this act, I give faith. Buenos Aires, July 29, 1998.

ANNEX TO THE FEDERAL COVENANT OF WORK

Mr. Governor of Chubut Province Dr. Carlos MAESTRO, representing it, manifests his will to join the PACTO FEDERAL DEL TRABAJO subscribed in the City of Buenos Aires on the 29th day of the month of July 1998 by the President of the Argentina Nation, the lords Ministers of the Interior and of Labour and Social Security and the lords representatives of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Córdoba, Corrientes, Chaco, Entre Ríos, Formosa The event ended by signing two copies of the same tenor in the City of Buenos Aires, on the five days of the month of August 1998, giving it an authenticated copy of the said Covenant.

Annex I

DRAFT CREATION OF THE FEDERAL WORK COUNCIL

ARTICLE 1 . The Federal Labour Council (CFT) .el that will replace the Federal Labour Administration Council., composed of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the labour administrations of each of the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

Article 2 : The functions of the Federal Labour Council:

(a) Encouraging general policies in this area under the principles of coordination, cooperation, co-participation and co-responsibility between labour administrations, seeking to enhance the effectiveness of governmental activity and social actors in different jurisdictions and competencies.

(b) To collect information, provide and receive advice and make proposals to the legislative bodies and administrative, national or provincial bodies on their competence or interest.

(c) Link with international agencies through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and participate in events taking place abroad.

(d) To strengthen the labour administrations, especially their professional equipment and training, which may require the assistance of their own members or public or private agencies, the country or abroad.

(e) To exercise the functions of central authority of the inspection of the work, provided for in the Nros conventions. 81 and 129 of the International Labour Organization.

(f) Conduct or commission studies and research of common interest, ensuring a complete, regular and updated exchange of official documentation, reports, statistics and publications among its members.

(g) Participate in the design of employment promotion and labour training programmes and propose criteria for their financing, seeking their adequacy to regional needs, avoiding both exclusions and overlaps with programmes in other areas.

(h) To carry out the other activities necessary for the fulfilment of its objectives.

ARTICLE 3o s The Federal Labour Council shall act through the following bodies: the Federal Assembly, the Executive Committee, the Permanent Secretary and the Technical Commissions:

(a) The Federal Assembly is the highest body of the Council, determines its overall action and policy, approves its Statute and elects the members of the Executive Committee and the Technical Commissions. It shall have at least one ordinary meeting every three (3) months and its resolutions shall be adopted by the vote of the two thirds of the members present. It will consist of a representation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, one of each province and one of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The Minister of Labour and Social Security is the natural president of the body. The provincial and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires will elect an alternate president who will also serve as vice president.

(b) The Executive Committee is the body responsible for the actions necessary to comply with the decisions of the Assembly and will be composed of a president, a vice president and three secretaries, elected between the representatives of the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, who will last one (1) year in their functions, and may be reelected for a similar period.

(c) The Permanent Secretariat shall exercise the secretariat of the Federal Assembly and the Executive Committee with the mission of conducting the activities and studies resolved by those bodies. Its incumbent will be the Secretary of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which may delegate its functions in whole or in part.

The Assembly may constitute permanent or temporary technical commissions, composed of representatives who may or may not be members of the Council, but whose chairman shall be.

ARTICLE 4o . The Federal Labour Council will be based in the Federal Capital. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will provide the necessary means for its operation, and the necessary resources should be provided in the Budget Act. The patrimony of the Federal Council of Labour Administrations will be incorporated into the Federal Labour Council, of which it is continuous.

Annex II

GENERAL REGIME OF SANTIONS BY LABORARY INFRACTIONS

CHAPTER 1

Scope of Implementation

ARTICLE 1 . This Law will apply to actions or omissions that violate the laws and regulations of work, health, hygiene and safety at work, as well as the normative clauses of the collective agreements.

CHAPTER 2

Offences and sanctions

ARTICLE 2o s Mild breaches

They are minor infractions:

(a) Payment of remuneration outside the legal period, when the delay is up to four (4) working days if the payment period is monthly, and up to two (2) working days if the period is less.

(b) No visible location of the establishment of advertisements relating to the distribution of working hours

(c) Do not grant, except authorization, the rest of the women at noon when appropriate.

(d) Anyone else who violates merely formal or documentary obligations, except those established as serious or very serious.

(e) The actions or omissions that violate the standards of hygiene and safety at work that affect requirements of a formal or documentary nature, provided that they are not qualified as serious or very serious.

Article 3 O Serious violations

These are serious violations:

(a) The lack, in workers' registration books, of any of the essential data of the contract or working relationship.

(b) Lack of delivery of service certificates or termination of employment relationship to worker's requirement.

(c) Violation of the rules relating to the amount, place, time and mode of payment of remuneration, as well as the lack of delivery of copies signed by the employer of the corresponding receipts, except as provided in article 2 (a)

(d) Violation of labour-time standards, weekly rest, holidays, licenses, holidays, non-working days and generally working time.

(e) Violation of the rules relating to contractual arrangements.

(f) The lack or insufficiency of the individual instruments of work-time pain.

(g) Any other abuse or abusive exercise of labour regulations not expressly provided for in this Act, which is established to protect the rights of the worker, to ensure the exercise of the police power of the labour force and to prevent employers from unfair competition arising from such abuses or abusive behaviour.

(h) Actions or omissions that amount to non-compliance with health, safety and health obligations at work, provided that they are not qualified as very serious.

ARTICLE 4 O Very serious violations

These are very serious offences:

(a) The decisions of the employer involving any kind of discrimination in employment or occupation on the grounds of: race, colour, national descent, religion, sex, age, political opinion, social origin, guilds, residence or family responsibilities.

(b) The acts of the employer contrary to the privacy and dignity of the workers.

(c) The lack of registration of the worker in the workers ' registration books, unless all social security agencies, including social works, have been reported to be discharged at the appropriate time, in which case it is considered to be included in the offences provided for in article 3 (a).

(d) The assignment of personnel carried out in violation of the legal requirements.

(e) Violation of child labour standards.

(f) Violation by either party of the resolutions issued on the basis of compulsory conciliation procedures and arbitration in collective conflicts.

(g) The actions or omissions of Article 3 (h) that result in serious and imminent risk to the health of workers.

ARTICLE 5o las Of the sanctions

1. Las The minor infractions will be punished according to the following graduation:

(a) Notice, for the first minor offence, according to the background and circumstances of each case, evaluated by the administrative enforcement authority.

(b) Fines of PESOS OCHENTA ($ 80) to PESOS DOSCIENTA CINCUENTA ($ 250).

2. . Serious breaches shall be punished by a fine of PESOS DOS CINCUENTA ($ 250) to PESOS MIL ($ 1,000) per worker affected by the offence.

3. . Very serious offences shall be punished with a fine of PESOS MIL ($ 1,000) to PESOS CINCO MIL ($ 5,000) per worker affected by the offence.

4. . In cases of recidivism in respect of the offences set forth in subparagraphs c, d, and h of article 3o, the administrative authority may add to the maximum amounts of the fine an amount that does not exceed TEN per SCIENTO (10%) of the total remuneration earned in the establishment in the month immediately prior to the finding of the offence.

5. s In the cases of recidivism in very serious infractions:

(a) The establishment may be closed up to a maximum of ten (10) days, while the right of workers to pay. In the event of essential public services, minimum services should be guaranteed.

(b) The employer will be disqualified for one year to access public tenders and suspended from the records of suppliers or insurers of the national and provincial states and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

CHAPTER 3

From the sanctioning procedure

ARTICLE 6o O

Each jurisdiction shall apply in accordance with its powers the rules of procedure for the provisions of this Law, ensuring the effectiveness of this regime and the right of defence. The administrative procedure, including the initiation of the executory phase, shall be completed within a period not exceeding one hundred and fifty (150) working days to be counted from the record of infringement or accusatory judgment.

ARTICLE 7 es Faculty of inspectors

1. Los The inspectors, in the exercise of their function, shall have the powers established by article 12 of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947, number 81, and shall therefore be entitled to:

(a) Enter freely and without prior notice in the places where tasks subject to inspection are performed in the hours of the day and night.

(b) Enter from day to day when they have reasonable reason to assume that he is subject to inspection.

(c) Require all necessary information for the performance of your function and perform any experience, research or examination and in particular:

I) Interrogate alone, or witnesses, the employer and the staff.

II) To demand the presentation of books and documentation that the labour legislation prescribes and obtain copies or extracts thereof.

III) Take and remove samples of substances or materials used in the establishment, for the purpose of analysing and conducting examinations and research on the environmental conditions of the workplaces and the tasks carried out therein.

IV) Intimate the adoption of measures relating to facilities or methods of work whose compliance arises from legal or conventional standards concerning the health, hygiene or safety of the worker.

V) Have immediate implementation measures in the event of imminent danger to the health, hygiene or safety of the worker, including suspension of duties.

VI) Request the placement of notices requiring legal provisions.

(d) They will have the other powers that the laws recognize.

2. . Labour inspectors, where there are no direct risks, damages or damages to the rights of workers, may employ the employer to comply with the rules breached, and to do so.

3. Los The inspectors will be empowered to directly require the assistance of the public force for the purpose of fulfilling their duties.

CHAPTER 4

Common provisions

Article 8 ción Obstruction

1. ). The obstruction to the performance of the administrative authorities of the work that prevents, disturbs or delays it in any way shall be punished, after intimation, with a fine of PESOS DOSCIENTOS ($ 200) to PESOS CINCO MIL ($ 5,000).

In cases of special gravity and contumence, the administrative authority may add to the maximum amounts of the fine an amount that does not exceed TEN per cent (10%) of the total remuneration that has been accrued in the establishment in the month immediately prior to the finding of the offence.

2. . Without prejudice to the established criminality, the administrative authority of the work may compel the appearance of those who have been duly summoned to a hearing through the assistance of the public force, which will be rendered as if it were a judicial requirement.

ARTICLE 9 s Sanctions graduation criteria

The administrative authority of the work, when graduating the penalty, shall take into account:

(a) Non-compliance with warnings or inspection requirements.

(b) The economic importance of the offender.

(c) The reoffending character. The commission of an offence of the same type shall be deemed to have been repeated within two (2) years of the signing of a sanctioning order imposing a fine.

(d) The number of workers affected.

(e) The number of workers in the company.

(f) The injury caused.

ARTICLE 10. a Fine to legal persons

In the case of sanctions with a fine to legal persons, these shall be imposed in solidarity with the entity and its directors, managers, trustees, members of the monitoring board, administrators, presidents or representatives who have intervened in the sanctioned act.

ARTICLE 11. Prescription

1. . Prescribe to the two (2) years the emerging actions of the infractions provided for in this Law. The current statute of limitations shall be interrupted by the finding of the offence, through the relevant record, by the opening of the case and by the commission of new offences.

2. Las The sanctions imposed will prescribe the two (2) years of being firm, which will be interrupted by acts aimed at obtaining their collection at administrative or judicial headquarters.

ARTICLE 12. de Registration of recidivism

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security shall maintain a register of recidivism, which may be consulted and to which the administrations of the provincial work and of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires shall report.

ARTICLE 13. s The fate of fines

The funds raised following the implementation of the sanctions provided for in this Act shall be used to improve labour administration services, as provided for in the relevant regulations.

ARTICLE 14. . Control of the fate of fines.

The General Assembly of the Nation shall be responsible for the control of the fulfilment of the duty assigned to the funds collected for the application of the sanctions provided for in this Law. In the case of fines in provincial jurisdiction, such control shall be exercised by the agencies to which local laws attribute such jurisdiction.

ARTICLE 15. . Derogations and Ratifications.

1. . Prove Laws No. 18,694 and its amendments and No. 20,767.

2. . Streamline the provisions of article 16 of Decree No. 342/92 on eventual service companies. The provisions of chapters 3 and 4 of this Act shall apply to these offences.

3. . Streamline the validity of articles 19 and 26 of Law No. 24,635.

Annex III

NATIONAL PLAN OF IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EMPLEMENTATION

OBJECTIVES

Promote the improvement of the quality of employment, working and living conditions of wage earners, and increase the proportion of registered workers by contributing to reducing social exclusion.

CHARACTERISTICS

The Plan is developed as an integrated operation, organized in modular form and coordinated by the FEDERAL WORK COUNCIL, with the participation and cooperation of other national and provincial agencies.

LINES OF ACTION

Considering the complexity of the objectives set, the Plan is structured through multiple, direct and indirect action lines, with the participation of other agencies of the National State, provinces, employers ' and workers ' organizations and other social institutions.

LINES OF DIRECTIVE ACTION

1. IVA NORMATIVE

Develop draft laws and propose other policy reforms that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of the Plan and the consolidation of an integrated system of labour inspection and social security, for which work teams will be formed with representatives of different agencies.

2. DEL REGULARIZATION OF EMPLEMENTATION

Implement an Unregistered Employment Regularization Program, coordinated with other national agencies, which is aimed at the detection of unregistered workers and their incorporation into the social security system. Its goal will be to relieve 500,000 workers during this year in order to verify their situation in relation to the social security system.

Support the performance of provincial labour inspection services, especially with regard to the timely attention of complaints of non-compliance with labour regulations and the conduct of the proceedings.

3. DE PROMOTION OF OTHER GOVERNMENTAL MEASURES

Promote action by other government agencies that encourage regularization of employment by administrative simplification of procedures and procedures for registering employment and monitoring compliance with labour regulations.

Develop a computer program to organize a centralized system of data collection, within the framework of a uniform and coordinated system of labour statistics.

Strengthening provincial labour inspection services, supporting their performance and promoting, to that end, specific agreements.

Create the technical bases for the development of the professional career of labour inspection, defining the job profile of the agents, developing the bases of a system of certification of such competences and implementing a national register of labour inspectors.

Form a technical team between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the FEDERAL INCOME ADMINISTRATION PUBLICS to promote administrative simplification of procedures and procedures derived from social security findings.

INDIRCT CLAIMS

4 S SECTORIAL PARTICIPATION

Promote the cooperation of employers ' and workers ' organizations and encourage civil society to regularize wage and self-employment.

Promote the establishment of employers ' codes of conduct to ensure that their subcontractors and suppliers respect the basic rights of their workers: first, to be registered.

To strengthen the performance of workers ' union associations in order to form sources of information for the development of the Plan.

Commit the participation of other social institutions, such as professional colleges and universities, in actions aimed at stimulating regularization.

5. D DIFUSION

Implementing a campaign through mass media, in order to disseminate labour standards and raise awareness of the need to improve the quality of employment.

Develop specific dissemination actions aimed at the most vulnerable groups of workers such as disabled persons and domestic service.

6. EDUCATIVA

Propose the incorporation of specific information modules into the basic education, adult and community training programmes, which expand the knowledge of the educators on the main rights of the workers.

Annex IV

NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF ACTION IN MATERIA OF INFANTIL WORK

This National Programme of Action on Child Labour takes into account the proposal adopted in October-November 1993 at the National Seminar on Child Labour, organized jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN DEL FUND (UNICEF) and the MINISTERIO DE TRABAJO and SOCIAL SECURITY.

The FEDERAL COUNCIL of WORK will intervene in plans, programmes, and actions aimed at the eradication of child labour, optimizing the functioning of existing and intended structures for this purpose.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. . Child labour is a long-standing everyday reality whose magnitude, characteristics and trends are insufficiently known. They contribute to this situation, its relative invisibility, as well as the diversity and complexity of its forms. On the other hand, child labour is not recognized by all in the same way, there are differences in this regard between official institutions, non-official institutions, parents and children themselves, increasing their concealment.

2. . The usual statistical instruments do not consider child labour specifically, making it difficult for them to know. Also, certain forms of child labour of high personal and social risk, such as begging, drug trade and prostitution, are not captured by these instruments.

3. . As noted, appropriate and ongoing studies of the issue are required, including statistical and in-depth research on the modalities and situations characteristic of child labour, with a view to fully understanding their forms, dimensions, trends and implications.

4. . Such research should include the study of the variables that would explain the reasons why child labour is largely denied by society. Their results should serve as a basis for actions aimed at reversing that social attitude.

5. . Child labour, except for that done in the family and in appropriate working conditions, is carried out in precariousness, both in terms of content and in relation to the legal context.

6. . Child labour is particularly important in informal urban activities and secondly in rural activities, which may be linked to formal productive activities.

CAUSAS

7. La The main cause of child labour is poverty and its natural consequence: family instability.

Families facing it are often forced to resort to the work of all its members, including those of low age. More specifically, the income that the child may receive as an employee or as an independent worker, or generate as an unpaid helper of his or her family, at home work or agricultural work.

8. . These family decisions often do not express a strategy because their consequences are not foreseen. In addition, child labour is sometimes used because it is not known or has no other option. This often happens in the case of the child ' s contribution to productive activities taking place at home or in the family plot. In other cases, when they work on uncovering, particularly if they are paid at low rates, the child ' s parents or family members often resort to the child ' s help, as it would appear to be quite common among the families of workers or farm workers.

9. . In the case of the child who has broken his family ties, work is an individual and inescapable option.

10. . To the extent that they generate poverty in population sectors or in a society as a whole, the unemployment and the decline in income, wage or not of the adult members of the families, are dependent on child labour.

11. . The logics or strategies of survival seem to legitimize the illegal. This happens most of the time with child labour.

IMPLICATIONS

12. . Among the implications of child labour, those relating to the education and vocational training of the child should be first emphasized. Child labour can result in absolute illiteracy or functional illiteracy, induce school dropouts, encourage absenteeism to classes or undue attendance and contribute to repetition of grade and low learning quality.

13. . Also, child labour is an important source of danger to the physical, psychological and social integrity and development of the child, often impairs their health and may be risky for their lives. The child who usually works to subsist, when he or she does so in bad condition or does not attend school or does not pursue his or her studies, is mortgaged his or her future. Because of this, the future of the country is mortgaged at the same time.

14. . By hindering or preventing qualifications, and thus restricting employment opportunities and occupational mobility of the future adult worker, child labour contributes to the amplifying and perpetuation of the circle of poverty.

PRIORITARY GROUPS

15. . Among children who must be treated with priority should be noted, on the one hand, those who perform work or tasks that prevent or force the interruption of the cycle of formal education; on the other hand, those who perform tasks or jobs that put at risk the health and psychosocial development of those who execute it; and fundamentally, those who are forced into . for structural reasons or other causes— to perform jobs or tasks of high social risk such as all the illicit sale

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF POLICY

16. . This document tends to establish and implement a national strategy aimed at preventing and eradicating child labour, in particular the one that is of high social risk or detrimental to the person who executes it, and to protect working children.

17. La The above-mentioned strategy could be particularly successful in understanding appropriate social compensation measures for workers and in general of the low-income sectors, preventing child labour and encouraging the reintegration into the education system of working minors.

LEGISLATION

18. . Recently, Argentina has taken an important step in the area of child labour standards by ratifying the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age. However, even the current legislation on child labour is characterized by its fragmentation and dispersion, and by understanding contradictory provisions among themselves, as well as norms, which, although true, may be positive, are not applied despite being in force.

19. . It would be useful to develop new legislation on children ' s rights, which had become a constitutional hierarchy since the 1994 reform and which was public in all its aspects. The unification or codification of the various existing child labour provisions, the revision or derogation of those that are inappropriate or inconsistent and the inclusion of those imposed for the achievement of the proposed objectives should also be considered.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEGISLATION

20. . Particular importance should be accorded, with the aforementioned restrictions, to the application of existing legislation on child labour. The provisions prohibiting the conduct of hazardous, harmful or painful work for children performing such work, as well as those protecting the child against economic exploitation and abuse, should be subject to rigorous implementation.

21. . In the field of labour inspection, it is very useful to carry out preventive tasks as well as the civil society competition. The provision of qualified staff, adequate resources and specific training in child labour are critical to effective inspection.

EDUCATION

22. . It is necessary, on the one hand, to educate for work, considering in the programs and methods of study the requirements of the labour market and, on the other hand, that the student learn to work in the framework of educational programs, especially as part of teaching or training courses that a school or training institution is primarily responsible for.

23. . A particular effort should be made in favour of the reintegration into the school of children who have abandoned it, as well as in relation to the prevention of their abandonment, especially through educational programmes aimed at supporting the construction of the required knowledge or the strengthening of school learning.

24. todas All possibilities should be exhausted for the school reintegration of the working child, especially in rural areas, who has abandoned the formal education cycle, including through the adoption of a flexible position regarding correspondence between ages and school grades, as well as in the school calendar. Where the child cannot be reintegrated because of the importance of his or her knowledge deficits or school delay, a special effort should be made to provide him with both basic and specialized vocational training.

25. . Educational programmes, particularly those for social sectors facing extreme poverty, need an appropriate and permanent articulation with social promotion programmes that promote school retention, such as the provision of basic food from school medicine, recreation and sport.

26. . The knowledge of children ' s rights in the area of protection against economic exploitation, including legislation, the risks of child labour, the alternatives to it, and the institutions and mechanisms to which it can be invoked in search of information and protection, should be incorporated into the school curriculum. Specific educational programmes for the families of the pupils should incorporate the same contents.

HEALTH

27. . Work is an important source of risk for the health and integrity of the child. Given its fragility, inexperience and lack of information or knowledge on the subject, the child faces labour risks much greater than those faced by the adult worker performing similar tasks. Even that which usually does not pose a risk to an adult is, quite often, a serious danger to the child.

28. . A premature addition to work causes early wear and early appearance of chronic pathologies. This is true even when the child performs light tasks, if carried out before the appropriate age or during an excessive number of hours, even though he or she performs domestic and school activities at the same time. The child is particularly sensitive to living conditions and the working environment.

29. . Appropriate and ongoing research should be carried out on the risks posed by the child ' s labour activities, which infringe their physical and mental safety and health, with a view to establishing preventive and curative programmes.

30. . The establishment of these programmes should ensure adequate distribution of their coverage and resources between urban and rural areas and between the different regions and provinces of the country and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

AND SOCIAL MOVILIZATION

31. . Promoting the approach to the problems of child labour, as well as the definition and implementation of the actions necessary to overcome these problems, requires that society be fully aware of them and actively participate in the search for solutions and in the implementation and follow-up of the actions required.

32. . Promote and conduct a broad discussion at the national level about the current situation, trends, forms and implications for the child and the society of child labour, as well as on possible solutions to the problems in this field.

33. . This discussion should have as its main objectives the promotion of the National Programme of Action and, to help employers’ and workers’ organizations, non-governmental organizations and, in general, civil society institutions, families and children .in particular those who work conciencia become aware of the problems of child labour, plan solutions to these problems within the framework of the National Programme and contribute to their implementation.

34. La The discussion and mobilization noted will be carried out in the different areas of the country, both at the national, provincial, municipal or local levels, giving special importance to the dissemination of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular those relating to education and free time, and its article 32 on the protection of the child from economic exploitation.

35. . They should play an important role in raising awareness and mobilizing, representative organizations of employers and workers, as well as the social media.

FOLLOW-UP

36. . An inter-agency follow-up commission will be established.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

37. ). The technical cooperation of UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN DELS FUND (UNICEF) and INTERNATIONAL WORK Organization (ILO) will be required.

Annex V

PLAN para la IGUALDAD de OPORTUNIDADS ENTRE VARONES AND WOMEN IN THE LABORAL WORLD

The Nation, the Provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires undertake to promote, within their respective competences, the Plan for Equal Opportunities between Men and Women in the Labour World approved by Decree No. 254/98 of the NATIONAL EXECUTIVE PODER, and to develop the following lines of action:

1. . Designing and implementing policies, plans and operational programs that promote the incorporation of women into work on equal opportunities and treatment with men.

2. . Promote women ' s vocational and technical training to diversify their professional options to expand their employment opportunities.

3. . Promote the participation of women in production, stimulating their entrepreneurial activity.

4. . Disseminate the rights of working women and stimulate their exercise.

5. . Generate administrative bodies that guarantee equal opportunities and treatment of women in labour relations.

6. . Promote the reconciliation of family and work life.

7. . Analyze and spread the situation and contribution of working women.

Annex VI

NATIONAL PLAN FOR LABORAL INSERTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF DISABLED PERSONS

The Nation, the Provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires will develop this Plan jointly and within the scope of their respective competences, through the following lines of action:

Promote the participation of persons with disabilities in national and provincial employment and labour training programmes, created or created, in order to ensure their incorporation and advance their social integration.

Create and/or strengthen national and provincial employment services for persons with disabilities. Its functions will be the registration and intermediation between the supply and demand for employment of this sector. They will also provide information to companies about workers with disabilities, their qualifications and possibilities of using this workforce (homework, telework, etc.).

Strengthening the Register of Law No. 24,308 (concessionaries, applicants and places available for the installation of small shops), regulated by Decree No. 795/94 and the Resolution of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security No. 1298 of 15 December 1994. Preparation and delivery of courses for prospectors to install small shops on their techniques of exploitation and administration, in accordance with article 17 of Law No. 24,308 and the aforementioned Resolution. At the provincial level, initiatives will be developed in this same direction.

Encouraging actions aimed at the implementation of the regulations set out in Decree No. 1027/94, taking the necessary measures to carry out, in the areas of national dependence, works that allow access to persons with disabilities. For their part, the provinces will perform such works in the buildings of the provincial public administration.

To promote with other national, provincial, municipal and non-governmental governmental agencies (Federal Council of Disability, NATIONAL COMMISSION ASSESSMENT FOR INTEGRATION OF PERSONS DISCAPACTED, MINISTERIA, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS AND INDEC CENSES), the creation of employment coordination systems that allow for the reintegration of workers.

Consider improving the benefits of dependency workers as a disabled child, the beneficiaries of the Integrated Pension and Pension System and the staff dependent on the provincial public sector.

In order to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, the signatory parties will provide mechanisms to provide incentives for employers who enter into employment contracts with disabled persons.

The Nation, the Provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires will periodically evaluate the degree of compliance with these clauses.