Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Montenegro (Ratification: 2006)

Other comments on C131

Direct Request

2012

Replies received to the issues raised in a direct request which do not give rise to further comments

2019

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Article 3 of the Convention. Criteria for the determination of the minimum wage. The Committee notes that before the latest amendments were introduced to the Labour Law in 2011, the Labour Law provided in section 81(2) that the minimum wage will be determined on the basis of the cost of living, changes in the average wage, subsistence and social needs of the employee and his family, the unemployment rate, changes in employment in the labour market, productivity of work, rates of profit in the economy and the country’s general level of economic development. However, following the 2011 amendments, section 81 was deleted and therefore the Labour Law no longer enumerates criteria for the determination of the minimum wage. The Committee therefore requests the Government to explain how this Article of the Convention is given effect under the current Labour Law.

Article 4. Minimum wage fixing machinery. The Committee notes that under section 80 of the Labour Law, as last amended in 2011 (Official Gazette No. 59/2011), the amount of the minimum wage is fixed by the Government every six months upon a proposal of the tripartite Social Council and cannot be lower than 30 per cent of the average wage for the previous six months as determined by the Statistical Office. The Government recalls that before the latest amendments were introduced to the Labour Law, the minimum wage was established through the General Collective Agreement. This negotiated “general minimum cost of labour” was then used to calculate the minimum wages of various occupational categories using coefficients based on job complexity and workers’ education level. However, as the General Collective Agreement of 2010 appears to be still in effect, it is not clear whether the minimum wage fixing process set out in section 80 of the Labour Law has already been put into practice. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to provide clarifications in this respect.

Article 5. Enforcement measures. The Committee notes that sections 172 and 173 of the Labour Law provide for penalties to be applied in case of non compliance with specific provisions of the Labour Law but do not include any indication as to the sanctions for non-payment of the statutory minimum wage. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to specify the legal provisions establishing sanctions in the event of payment of wages at a rate lower than the national minimum wage.