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

The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no reply on some of the matters raised in its previous observation. The Committee recalls the sections concerning the payment of wages in the report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the ILO to examine the observance by Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).

Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention, in conjunction with Article 4. The Committee has noted from the previous report of the Government that the extension of the coverage relating to minimum wage fixing will be delayed for a while awaiting the enactment of the new labour law. It has also observed that, according to the report of the above Commission of Inquiry (paragraphs 473 to 475 and paragraph 512), local people in irrigation projects are denied remuneration and compensation, and are paid only in exceptional circumstances and then below market rates. The Committee again urges the Government to indicate the manner in which a minimum wage rate is applicable to local people in irrigation projects; also to state, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention, the measures taken or contemplated, including supervision, inspection and sanctions, so as to ensure: (i) that the employers and workers concerned are informed of these rates in cases where they are applicable; and (ii) that a worker to whom the minimum rates are applicable and who has been paid at less than these rates shall be entitled to recover, by appropriate legal means, the amount by which he or she has been underpaid.

Article 1, paragraph 2, in conjunction with Article 3. The Committee requests the Government once more to inform it to what extent the employers' and workers' organizations are involved in the fixing, revision and extension of the minimum wage. It also asks the Government to provide a copy of the new labour law as soon as it is adopted.

Part V of the report form. The Committee requests the Government to communicate extracts from the reports of the inspection services and on any other relevant data of the application of the Convention in practice.

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