Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Fiji (Ratification: 1974)

Article 3 of the Convention. Equitable participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Committee notes the adoption of the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007 (Promulgation No. 36 of 2007) and the Employment Relations (Administration) Regulations 2008, which replace the Wages Councils Act (Cap. 98). The organization and operation of the wages councils remains essentially the same, while under sections 3 and 5 of Schedule 3 of the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007, employers’ and workers’ representatives must be represented at the wages councils in equal numbers. It also notes that under section 19(4) of the Employment Relations (Administration) Regulations 2008, the wages councils must meet at least annually to make proposals to the Minister on minimum wage rates.

Article 4(1). System of sanctions. The Committee notes that the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007 prescribes, in Schedule 8, a fixed monetary fine to the amount of 100 Fiji dollars (FJD) (approximately US$60) for failure to pay the statutory minimum wage (section 55(2)) or failure to display a written notice in the workplace informing the workers of any applicable wages regulation order (section 56(2)). Recalling that monetary sanctions must be established and periodically readjusted at a level that is truly dissuasive and effective in preventing infringements of the minimum wage legislation, the Committee requests the Government to clarify whether the current level of fines provided for in the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007 is considered adequate to ensure compliance with the national legislation in respect of minimum wage.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the information on wages councils and labour inspection results contained in the 2004 Annual Report of the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations. The Committee requests the Government to continue supplying up to date information on the application of the Convention in practice including, for instance, any new wages councils set up or new wages regulation orders adopted, the approximate number of workers covered by wages regulation orders, any exemptions that may have been granted by the Minister of Labour under section 19(7) of the Employment Relations Regulations 2008, etc.

Finally, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, based on the recommendations of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided that Convention No. 26 is among those instruments which may no longer be fully up to date but remain relevant in certain respects (GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraphs 19 and 40). The Committee, therefore, suggests that the Government should consider the possibility of ratifying the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131), which marks certain advances compared to older instruments on minimum-wage fixing, for instance, as regards its broader scope of application, the requirement for a comprehensive minimum wage system, and the enumeration of the criteria for the determination of minimum wage levels. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this regard.