Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2003, publiée 92ème session CIT (2004)

The Committee notes the report provided by the Government.

Article 3, paragraph 2(2), of the Convention. With reference to section 31(6) of the Labour Code, which provides for the fixing of guaranteed minimum inter-occupational wage rates by decree following the advice of the Labour Advisory Committee, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the minimum wage rates currently in force, the criteria taken into consideration in this respect and on any development relating to the operation of the Labour Advisory Committee. It also requests the Government to provide a copy of the decree by which the guaranteed minimum inter-occupational wage was adjusted most recently.

Article 3, paragraph 2(3). The Committee notes that, under section 49 of the inter-occupational collective agreement of 19 July 1977, the provisions of which were extended by Order No. 1 MTIC.CAB of 3 January 1978, unskilled workers aged under 18 years paid on a time basis receive minimum wages which only correspond to a certain percentage of those of adult workers in the same job in the corresponding occupational classification. The Committee also notes that, under the same section, young workers under 18 years of age paid on a piecework basis or by output receive identical wages to those of adults when they normally perform work that is generally entrusted to adults under the same conditions respecting output and quality. The Committee therefore notes that the national regulations in one case discard age as a decisive criterion for the determination of remuneration in place of the quantity and quality of the work performed, in accordance with the observations made by the Committee in its General Survey of 1992 on minimum wages, but retain it for young workers paid on a time basis. Recalling the fundamental principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value set forth by the Constitution of the ILO and section 31(2) of the Labour Code, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the reasons for the adoption of lower minimum wage rates for certain groups of young workers remunerated on a time basis and invites it to indicate in its next report any steps taken or envisaged to re-examine such measures in the light of the above principle.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. While noting the Government’s statement that the current statistics do not make it possible to determine the number of persons covered by the minimum wage regulations, the Committee hopes that the Government will endeavour to compile and transmit such information in future reports.

The Committee also recalls, with regard to the implementation and supervision of the application of the Convention, that it is the responsibility of any Member which has ratified the Convention to secure its enforcement through an effective system of inspection that is responsible for and capable of ensuring the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to wages, as specified in Article 3, paragraph 1(a), of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81). In view of the worrying statement by the Government in its report that the labour inspection services have for some years no longer been able to organize inspections and supervision due to lack of logistical means, the Committee requests the Government to inform the International Labour Office of the measures taken or envisaged to enable the labour inspection services to discharge their functions in future, which are all the more essential when the country is experiencing periods of instability during which workers’ rights are liable to suffer abuse.