Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1997, publiée 86ème session CIT (1998)

The Committee notes the information supplied in the Government's report in reply to its previous comments, as well as the observations made by the Trade Unions' Confederation of Chad (CST). It also notes the discussion held at the Conference Committee in 1993 and the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on Freedom of Association at its 305th Session (November 1996; Case No. 1857) approved by the ILO Governing Body, as well as the follow-up to the matter (see 306th Session (March 1997) and 307th Session (June 1997)).

The Committee also notes the Government's reply to the CST's observations which was received late.

Article 3 of the Convention.In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government's statement that the proposed increase of minimum wages fixed in 1978 has been shelved as part of the structural adjustment programme imposed by the IMF and the World Bank. The Committee referred to paragraphs 428 and 429 of the 1992 General Survey on minimum wages which state that one of the fundamental objects of the instruments in question is to ensure to workers a minimum wage that will provide a satisfactory standard of living for them and their families, and that this fundamental objective should constantly be borne in mind, especially in certain countries where structural adjustment programmes are being applied. The Committee requested the Government to indicate any developments in this respect and to provide information on the participation of the employers and workers concerned by decisions relating to the fixing of minimum wage rates, including decisions to freeze minimum wages.

The Committee notes that the minimum interoccupational guaranteed wage rates (SMIG) and the guaranteed minimum agricultural wage rates (SMAG) of 1978 were adjusted on 1 January 1995 and on 1 January 1996, along with the relevant wage scales. It notes that since the entry into force of the new Labour Code, minimum wage rates are fixed by joint agreement of the employers' and workers' representative occupational organizations (see section 249 of Act No. 38/PR/96 of 11 December 1996 issuing the Labour Code). The Government stipulates that these rates are determined by a joint committee composed of employers and workers.

Nevertheless, the CST considers that it was excluded by the Government from all joint collective negotiations relating to fixing of minimum wages.

In reply to these observations, the Government considers that this exclusion is owing simply to the fact that the negotiations had begun before the CST was founded and that, accordingly, only when the term of office of the Higher Committee for Labour and Social Security had expired could it be reconstituted to include the CST; there was therefore no question of discriminating against the CST in this matter.

The Committee recalls that in its recommendations when considering the complaint of the CST against the Government of Chad in a communication of 30 September 1995, the Committee on Freedom of Association requested the Government, in regard to participation of the CST on joint or tripartite bodies, if there was any doubt as to the representativity of the CST, to undertake an objective and impartial determination of representativity and to take the appropriate measures in the event that it turned out to be the representative union. Taking into account the information supplied by the CST in a communication of 19 December 1996, the same Committee noted with interest that the situation had improved, while requesting the Government to keep it informed on the matter.

The Committee hopes that the Government will shortly be in a position to supply detailed information on the designation of members of the joint committee responsible for fixing minimum wages, and also on the issue of CST participation in joint committee activities.

Article 4, paragraph 1, and Article 5, read in conjunction with point V of the report form.The Committee notes the Government's statement that the country's economic difficulties prevent it from providing labour inspection services with the resources to fulfil their function of monitoring the application of laws, regulations and collective agreements concerning workers; it is desperately short of such resources. In addition, according to the CST, the salary scales following rises in the rates of the SMIG and SMAG which were rendered effective by Decree No. 313bis/PR/95 of 7 April 1995, approving and issuing the new salary scales of 7 April 1995, are not applied or executed by public, parapublic and private employers, but there is no Government reaction to this.

In reply to these observations, the Government considers that, first, the new scales are applied in the private sector, even though some minor problems exist here and there. Moreover, the Government constantly reminds employers of their obligations in this regard, as well as of the need to make offending employers aware of the application of the new scales. Furthermore, in the public sector, because of the financial difficulties of the country and the undertakings made to the financial backers for controlling the amount spent on salaried employment until 1998, it is only after this date that workers on the whole will experience improved living conditions.

The Committee recalls that the provisions of the Convention make it incumbent on States to take the necessary steps to establish a system of supervision and sanctions to ensure that minimum rates of wages are paid. It requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated in regard to employers in the private sector who violate the regulation on minimum wages.

Furthermore, the Committee refers once again to its preceding comments in which it recalled the indications given in paragraphs 428 and 429 of its 1992 General Survey on minimum wages that one of the fundamental objectives of the instruments in question is to ensure to workers a minimum wage that will provide a satisfactory standard of living for them and their families, and that this fundamental objective should constantly be borne in mind, especially in countries where structural adjustment programmes are being applied. It hopes that this objective will be taken into account when the next new wage scales in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors are fixed, with the participation of the employers and workers concerned.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 1998.]