Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

The Committee notes with regret that in its last report the Government confined itself to repeating information already communicated in September 2000.

The Committee has been commenting for several years on the problem of wage arrears experienced by thousands of local council employees, drawing the Government’s attention to the need to ensure the regular payment of wages irrespective of the poor financial situation of most local councils or any retrenchment exercises undertaken by local authorities. The Committee notes that according to some reports the Government would require close to K500 billion (over US$100 million) to clear outstanding arrears and terminal packages for council workers. It further notes that the situation is particularly tense in certain councils, such as the Luanshya municipal council, where workers have reportedly been unpaid for six months.

The Committee takes this opportunity to refer to paragraph 412 of the 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages in which it emphasized that none of the reasons normally advanced by way of excuse, such as the implementation of structural adjustment or "rationalization" plans, falling profit margins or the weakness of the economic situation, can be accepted as valid pretexts for the failure to ensure the timely and full payment to workers of the wages due for work already performed or services already rendered, as required by Article 12 of the Convention. The financial straits of a private enterprise or a public administration may be addressed in many ways, but not by the deferred payment or non-payment of the outstanding wages due to workers. The Committee therefore urges the Government to supply in its next report detailed and up-to-date information as to the total amount of wage debts, the number of employees affected and the time schedule for the settlement of accumulated arrears.

In addition, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Zambia Local Authorities Workers’ Union has taken a number of councils to the High Court to ensure payment of wages. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could transmit copies of any decisions that the High Court may have rendered so far as well as practical information on the implementation of these decisions.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2005.]