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Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Brazil (RATIFICATION: 1983)

Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention. Machinery for fixing and adjusting minimum wages. The Committee notes the comments made by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), received on 4 July 2013 and forwarded to the Government on 9 September 2013. The IOE and the CNI list the effects and major difficulties of determining the minimum wage in the private sector, particularly the removal of the criterion of productivity by Act No. 12.328 of 25 February 2011 setting out the criteria for determining the minimum wage in 2011–15; the generation of strong pressure on the balance of the social security system, which has been in deficit, thereby intensifying the debate on the share of contributions to be paid by enterprises; the impact on public finances in small towns, as the minimum wage is the basic wage in thousands of towns; and the impact on industrial costs, with the rise in manufacturing costs essentially being due to labour costs. The IOE and the CNI add that over 40,000 collective agreements have been concluded containing clauses on the readjustment of wages for nearly all workers in the private sector. However, they say, by fixing the thresholds for economic categories in the private sector, which are determined by a political act of the governors and approved by the legislative assembly but without the participation of the social partners, the Government is indirectly obstructing collective bargaining by creating inequalities. The Committee also notes the additional comments of the IOE of 17 July 2013, in which the IOE affirms that there is a lack of participation by employers’ organizations in determining the criteria to be considered for the adjustment of the minimum wage. The IOE adds that the minimum wage has an important impact on micro- and small enterprises, which represented in 2011, 98.5 per cent of enterprises and 45.8 per cent of employment.

In its reply to the comments of the IOE and the CNI, the Government indicates that issues related to the minimum wage and collective bargaining are addressed on a tripartite basis in the framework of several bodies, such as the Labour Relations Council. The Government also specifies that representatives of employers’ organizations have participated in many tripartite forums in which the minimum wage was discussed, and that the gradual adjustment of the minimum wage promotes the creation of decent jobs. The Committee wishes to recall that one of the essential obligations of the Convention is that the minimum wage fixing machinery must be set up and operated in consultation with organizations of employers and workers who must participate on an equal footing. The Committee accordingly asks the Government to provide further information on the mechanism and content of the consultations held with employers’ and workers’ organizations to set the wages thresholds for the economic categories in the private sector to which the IOE and the CNI refer.