Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its reports. The Government indicates that, pursuant to Ministerial Ordinance No. 650/11 of 30 April 1988, the guaranteed interoccupational minimum wage (SMIG) has been increased to 160 Burundi francs (FBu) per day in the Gitega and Bujumbura city areas and to 105 FBu per day in rural areas. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the minimum wage fixed by the Ministerial Ordinance of 1988 being well behind the current cost of living, no national enterprises pay wages lower than the minimum rates. The Committee recalls that section 249(1) of Legislative Decree No. 1/037 of 7 July 1993 revising the Labour Code requires the National Labour Council to study all the elements which might be taken as a basis for determining the minimum wage and to review minimum wage rates annually, and asks the Government to indicate any measures taken or envisaged to review minimum wages in order to take account of increases in the cost of living. The Committee further notes that, according to the Government, the Labour Code affords few possibilities of fixing the SMIG by regulation, thus favouring collective agreement. It therefore asks the Government to provide detailed information on wage bargaining in the various branches of activity and the text of any recent collective agreement fixing minimum wages.

Lastly, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide, in accordance with Article 5 of the Convention and Part V of the report form, general information on the application of the Convention in practice, including: (i) the SMIG and the minimum rates of wages fixed for the various categories of workers; (ii) available statistics on the number and different categories of workers covered by minimum wage legislation; and (iii) the results of inspection visits (contraventions reported, sanctions imposed, etc.).