Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

The Committee takes note of the succinct information provided by the Government in its report.

Article 3, paragraph 2(2), of the Convention. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government reiterates that salaries are fixed by an administrative procedure, which seems to imply that there is no minimum wage fixed on the basis of consultations with social partners. The Committee recalls that in the observation of 1998 it mentioned that, since 1989, the national system of fixing minimum wages is inadequate, particularly in practice, which prevents the national system of fixing minimum wages from conforming with the provisions of the Convention. Thus, the Committee has requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the participation, in equal number and on equal terms, of employers' and workers' representatives in the system of fixing minimum wages.

Article 3, paragraph 2(3), and Article 4. The Committee also notes with regret that no response is supplied by the Government in its report to its comments requesting a copy of the most recent Decree fixing the minimum wage, and information on the relevant legislative provisions or regulations which ensure the observance of the minimum wage, such as: the possibility of recovering, by judicial or legal proceedings, the amount by which the workers have been underpaid in the event that the wage rate received is less than the minimum wage, as well as the sanctions provided for in the eventual infringement of the provisions concerning the minimum wage.

The Committee cannot but hope once more that the Government will provide information on the measures taken to ensure that national legislation and practice are consistent with its commitments made by ratifying the Convention.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2000.]