Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its last report that the process for the revision of the Protection of Wages Act No. 6, 1962, initiated in 1997, has now been suspended and that permission is currently being sought to draft a comprehensive Labour Code. The Committee understands that while the Employment Ordinance 1979 (Minimum Wage) is still in force, and therefore the Labour Commissioner is empowered – after consulting with the Labour Advisory Board – to apply to the Labour Tribunal for fixing the minimum wage for any class of employee, no minimum wage rates have ever been fixed in practice in respect of any category of workers. The Committee is bound to observe that no real progress has been made in the last 25 years for the introduction of a minimum wage in application of the relevant legislation. The Committee concludes that the Convention is not applied in practice and accordingly requests the Government to take without further delay all appropriate measures in order to rectify this situation. The Committee also requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments concerning the drafting of a comprehensive Labour Code and recalls that the Government may draw upon the technical assistance of the Office in this respect.