Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) - Serbia (Ratification: 2010)

Article 1 of the Convention. Atypical forms of work. The Committee notes the comments of the Trade Union Confederation “Nezavisnost” dated 5 September 2013 indicating that, although the national legislation provides for maternity protection that exceeds the provisions of the Convention, in practice those provisions are not applied to all forms of work. Only employees in the formal sector with an open-ended contract are covered, which represents less than 10 per cent of the country’s women employees. In 2012, there were 935,486 women aged 15–65 years in the labour market, of whom 850,971 (90.96 per cent) had a fixed-term contract and only 84,515 (9.34 per cent) had a permanent contract. In respect of the number of workers of childbearing age, according to the trade union, only 7.8 per cent of women exercise their right to cash benefits during maternity leave. The Committee requests the Government to reply to these comments and to specify the manner in which the provisions of the Labour Code on maternity protection apply to women workers with a fixed-term contract, including women workers with occasional or temporary employment, or who are members of youth or student cooperatives governed by sections 197, 198 and 199 of the Labour Code.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.