Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2006, publiée 96ème session CIT (2007)

With reference to the information contained in the Government’s report, in particular, the adoption of the new Labour Code (Act No. 12 of 2003) and its implementing decrees, the Committee wishes to raise the following points.

Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee has been commenting for a number of years on the need to regulate in greater detail the conditions under which the partial payment of the wage in kind may be authorized. The Committee notes with regret that the Labour Code of 2003 contains no new provisions to ensure that the goods and products which may be offered in lieu of money are appropriate for the personal use and benefit of the worker and his/her family and that they are valued fairly. In addition, the Committee notes that, under section 32(D) of the new Labour Code, the method of payment of the wage, including any allowances in kind, is negotiated and agreed upon between the employer and the worker, whereas the Convention specifically requires the partial payment of wages in kind to be regulated only by national laws or regulation, collective agreements or arbitration awards, and not individual agreement. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to paragraphs 104-160 of its 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages, which offer guidance concerning possible ways in which legislative conformity with this Article of the Convention may be ensured. The Committee hopes that the Government will take appropriate action without further delay in this respect.

Article 6. The Committee notes that section 42 of the new Labour Code, which essentially reproduces section 39 of the old Labour Code of 1981, prohibits employers from obliging the worker to buy food, goods, or services from specific stores or buy goods produced or services provided by an employer. In this connection, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraph 210 of its 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages, in which it considered that nothing short of an explicit legislative provision setting forth a general prohibition upon employers from limiting the freedom of workers to dispose of their wages in any form and manner, directly or indirectly, and not simply in respect of the use of company stores, can be regarded as giving full effect to the requirements of the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate any measures taken or envisaged to give full effect to the requirements of the Convention in this regard.