C149 - Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977

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 Sixty-third Session on 1 June 1977, and

Recognising the vital role played by nursing personnel, together with other workers in the field of health, in the protection and improvement of the health and welfare of the population, and

Recognising that the public sector as an employer of nursing personnel should play an active role in the improvement of conditions of employment and work of nursing personnel, and

Noting that the present situation of nursing personnel in many countries, in which there is a shortage of qualified persons and existing staff are not always utilised to best effect, is an obstacle to the development of effective health services, and

Recalling that nursing personnel are covered by many international labour Conventions and Recommendations laying down general standards concerning employment and conditions of work, such as instruments on discrimination, on freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively, on voluntary conciliation and arbitration, on hours of work, holidays with pay and paid educational leave, on social security and welfare facilities, and on maternity protection and the protection of workers' health, and

Considering that the special conditions in which nursing is carried out make it desirable to supplement the above-mentioned general standards by standards specific to nursing personnel, designed to enable them to enjoy a status corresponding to their role in the field of health and acceptable to them, and

Noting that the following standards have been framed in co-operation with the World Health Organisation and that there will be continuing co-operation with that Organisation in promoting and securing the application of these standards, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to employment and conditions of work and life of nursing personnel, which is the sixth item on the agenda of the session, and

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

adopts this twenty-first day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven the following Convention, which may be cited as the Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977.

Article 1

1. 1. For the purpose of this Convention, the term nursing personnel includes all categories of persons providing nursing care and nursing services.
2. 2. This Convention applies to all nursing personnel, wherever they work.
3. 3. The competent authority may, after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned, where such organisations exist, establish special rules concerning nursing personnel who give nursing care and services on a voluntary basis; these rules shall not derogate from the provisions of Article 2, paragraph 2 (a), Article 3, Article 4 and Article 7 of this Convention.

Article 2

1. 1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall adopt and apply, in a manner appropriate to national conditions, a policy concerning nursing services and nursing personnel designed, within the framework of a general health programme, where such a programme exists, and within the resources available for health care as a whole, to provide the quantity and quality of nursing care necessary for attaining the highest possible level of health for the population.
2. 2. In particular, it shall take the necessary measures to provide nursing personnel with--
   • (a) education and training appropriate to the exercise of their functions; and
   • (b) employment and working conditions, including career prospects and remuneration,

which are likely to attract persons to the profession and retain them in it.

1. 3. The policy mentioned in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be formulated in consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned, where such organisations exist.
2. 4. This policy shall be co-ordinated with policies relating to other aspects of health care and to other workers in the field of health, in consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned.

Article 3

1. 1. The basic requirements regarding nursing education and training and the supervision of such education and training shall be laid down by national laws or regulations or by the competent authority or competent professional bodies, empowered by such laws or regulations to do so.
2. 2. Nursing education and training shall be co-ordinated with the education and training of other workers in the field of health.

Article 4

National laws or regulations shall specify the requirements for the practice of nursing and limit that practice to persons who meet these requirements.

Article 5

1. 1. Measures shall be taken to promote the participation of nursing personnel in the planning of nursing services and consultation with such personnel on decisions concerning them, in a manner appropriate to national conditions.
2. 2. The determination of conditions of employment and work shall preferably be made by negotiation between employers' and workers' organisations concerned.
3. 3. The settlement of disputes arising in connection with the determination of terms and conditions of employment shall be sought through negotiations between the parties or, in such a manner as to ensure the confidence of the parties involved, through independent and impartial machinery such as mediation, conciliation and voluntary arbitration.

Article 6

Nursing personnel shall enjoy conditions at least equivalent to those of other workers in the country concerned in the following fields:

• (a) hours of work, including regulation and compensation of overtime, inconvenient hours and shift work;
• (b) weekly rest;
• (c) paid annual holidays;
• (d) educational leave;
• (e) maternity leave;
• (f) sick leave;
• (g) social security.

Article 7

Each Member shall, if necessary, endeavour to improve existing laws and regulations on occupational health and safety by adapting them to the special nature of nursing work and of the environment in which it is carried out.

Article 8

The provisions of this Convention, in so far as they are not otherwise made effective by means of collective agreements, works rules, arbitration awards, court decisions, or in such other manner consistent with national practice as may be appropriate under national conditions, shall be given effect by national laws or regulations.

Article 9

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 10

1. 1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.
2. 2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General.
3. 3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

Article 11

1. 1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.
2. 2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

Article 12

1. 1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. 2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.

Article 13

The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.

Article 14

At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.

Article 15

1. 1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides:
   • (a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 11 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force;
   • (b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. 2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.

Article 16

The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.