Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1998, publiée 87ème session CIT (1999)

The Committee has been commenting on the application in practice of Article 12(1) of the Convention (regular payment of wages) on which a number of comments were made by workers' organizations in various sectors. It notes that the Government's report states that the total amount of wage arrears in May 1998 was 5.6 billion grivnas, including the arrears in the state budget sector of 836 million grivnas, and continues to grow.

However, the Government adds that the wage arrears have been reduced since the beginning of the year in certain branches of the economy: by 57 per cent in communication; 40 per cent in the bodies of state and economic authority and the governing bodies of cooperatives and public organizations; 21.4 per cent in shipping industry; 9.4 per cent in the finance, credit and insurance sector; 8.3 per cent in the commercial economic means of transport, as well as in some industries: by 16.7 per cent in thermal power stations; 14.8 per cent in wood processing and pulp industry, and so on.

According to the Government, it is continuing to take measures to ensure the payment of wage arrears: a government commission was set up to deal with the matter; the Finance Minister reports every week to Parliament on the work done with a view to eliminate the wage arrears; two Decisions were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers (No. 76 of 24 January 1998 and No. 525 of 21 April 1998) which contain measures designed to find out additional sources so as to pay the wage arrears.

As to the inspection, the Government states that in 1997 and the first three months of 1998, 12,600 inspections were made regarding the payment of wages at 12,300 enterprises, during which more than 15,000 violations were identified, 19,100 proposals made and 9,100 instructions were prepared to eliminate the discovered violation. The total amount of wages paid through the measures including the request of the labour inspection amount to 100 million grivnas. During the same period, 1,093 persons were subject to disciplinary liability for violation of labour legislation. The officials guilty of serious violations of legislation concerning wages are subject to administrative liability. Based on the 1,031 reports on violations submitted by the labour inspectors, the courts of law adopted 535 decisions on administrative measures and on penalties amounting to 32,000 grivnas.

The Committee takes due note of all the information. However, it is difficult to appreciate the actual size of outstanding debts due to wage-earners since the Government has supplied information on the decrease of wage arrears in some sectors in percentages than in absolute figures, without indicating whether decreases have been observed in the majority of sectors. Neither is it clear if there are some sectors in which wage arrears are still increasing.

The Committee recalls that the present problem concerns the implementation in practice of the national labour legislation giving effect to the Convention, which requires a continued effort and a wide range of measures for effective supervision, strict application of penalties, and the settlement of existing wage arrears. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on all relevant measures taken to ensure the regular payment of wages and a rapid settlement of wage arrears as well as data showing their results. The Committee also asks the Government to provide a copy of the Cabinet decisions mentioned above and to refer in particular to any progress made regarding the draft law on penalties on the inappropriate use of funds, and the procedures for compensation of workers' loss from the untimely payments, which the Committee noted in the previous observation.