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Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Guinea - Bissau (RATIFICATION: 1977)

The Committee notes the reports provided by the Government and the documents attached. It notes with interest the establishment, by Decree No. 1/2001 of 22 March 2001, of the Social Dialogue Council, a tripartite advisory body. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that this Council was consulted in 2002 with a view to fixing a minimum wage applicable to the public service and the subsequent determination of the minimum wage in this sector at CFA 28,000 francs per month with retroactive effect from 1 January 2002. While requesting the Government to provide a copy of the legislative texts fixing the minimum wage rate currently in force for the public service, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would also provide the following information.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the fixing of a national minimum wage is a constant policy concern. It hopes that the Government will be in a position to adopt in the very near future, as it had previously undertaken to do, the texts to give effect to sections 110, 111 and 114 of the General Labour Act of 5 April 1986, in respect of workers in the private sector, and particularly those who are not covered by arrangements for the effective regulation of wages by collective agreement or otherwise and for whom wages are exceptionally low. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate whether Decree No. 17/88, which established a guaranteed minimum wage, is still in force or whether it has been repealed by a later instrument.

Article 3, paragraph 2(3). The Committee notes that, under section 4(1) of Decree No. 1/2001, the Social Dialogue Council is composed, among others, of three representatives of each of the central trade union organizations and four representatives of the Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Agriculture. It also notes that under subsection 4 of the same section, the actual representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations and their respective substitutes have to be appointed in equal numbers. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details on the manner in which the participation of the employers and workers concerned is ensured in practice in equal numbers and on equal terms in the work of the Social Dialogue Council in respect of the fixing of minimum wages.

Article 4, paragraphs 1 and 2. The Committee notes from the Government’s reports that the enforcement and supervision of laws and regulations respecting minimum wages is the responsibility of the General Directorate of Labour and the labour inspectorate, which are empowered to intervene as mediators, and the courts before which any worker may bring a case to recover amounts due in respect of wages. It also notes the Government’s indication that workers can also go to the Social Dialogue Council when the wages paid are lower than the minimum rates in force. The Committee requests the Government to provide fuller information on the stages of the procedure applicable in the event of non-compliance with minimum wage rates, and particularly the time limits set out in the national legislation within which workers are entitled to take action for the recovery of outstanding amounts due to them.

Article 5, in conjunction with Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that the Government is not currently in a position to provide any details with regard to the number of workers actually covered by the minimum wage regulations in view of the lack of statistics on this subject. However, noting that the only workers currently covered by minimum wage provisions are employees in the public service, the Committee hopes that the Government will endeavour to compile such information and transmit it with its next report. The Committee also requests the Government to provide any other information on the application of the Convention in practice, such as extracts of the reports or opinions issued by the Social Dialogue Council, extracts of reports on the activities of the labour inspection services to enforce compliance with the minimum wage in the public service and indicating the number of violations reported and the penalties imposed, as well as studies on changes in economic indicators, such as the consumer price index, with a view to assessing the pertinence of the minimum wage in relation to economic realities.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2004.]