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

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in response to its previous observation.

With regard to the statistical information contained in the technical wage unit report attached to the Government’s report, the Committee understands that the current minimum wage stands at approximately US$160 per month. The Committee once again asks the Government to communicate a copy of the legal text establishing this rate and to provide detailed information on the consultations held within the National Wage Council (CONADES) which resulted in the most recent readjustment of the rate. The Committee would also like detailed information on the ability of such a rate to offer workers and their families a decent standard of living. The Committee notes that, according to various sources of information, the minimum wage rate is well below the poverty threshold and represents only a third of the income judged necessary to satisfy the essential needs of workers.

The Committee would like to take this opportunity to remind the Government that the Convention’s main objective is to guarantee workers a minimum wage allowing them a decent standard of living and that this objective can be truly met only if minimum wage rates are re-examined periodically, in accordance with Article 3 and Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention, so as to take into reasonable account the evolution of socio-economic realities. In cases where the minimum wage covers only a slim percentage of workers’ needs, the wage-fixing system is reduced to a mere formality and is rendered useless in terms of both combating poverty and ensuring social protection through acceptable minimum wage rates. The Committee therefore asks the Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee the application of minimum wages that are sufficient to enable workers to satisfy their essential needs and those of their families.

With regard to the payment of remuneration below the minimum wage rate to persons covered by apprenticeship contracts, the Committee recalls its previous comments in which it requested information on measures taken to ensure that apprentices in the industrial sector who are paid less than the minimum wage receive vocational training in the workplace. In its last report, the Government spoke of a bill approved in February 2006, the purpose of which is to amend section 168 of the Labour Code by widening the scope and increasing the duration of apprenticeship contracts (making it possible for workers in the handicrafts sector to be hired as apprentices for a maximum period of two years). In its amended form, section 168 also provides that the remuneration of an apprentice will be no less than 80 per cent of the salary normally paid for the same type of work. While noting the information on the bill in question – a copy of which is requested once it has been formally adopted – the Committee still considers concrete measures to be necessary in order to prevent apprenticeship contracts from being misused to evade the minimum wage rates in force. Such misuse would be in violation of the principle enshrined in Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, according to which, once fixed, minimum wages shall have the force of law and shall not be subject to abatement. The Committee therefore asks the Government, once again, to specify how it ensures that persons covered by apprenticeship contracts, under section 168 of the Labour Code, really receive vocational training in the workplace, which would justify remuneration below the minimum wage generally applied.

Finally, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue providing, in accordance with Article 5 of the Convention and Part V of the report form, detailed information on the application of the Convention in practice, including, for instance, statistics on the results of inspections carried out and extracts of reports or official studies concerning the functioning of the minimum wage system, such as the annual activity reports of CONADES, etc.