Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Burundi (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Confederation of Burundi (COSYBU), received on 28 August 2021.

Legislative developments. The Committee notes the adoption of Act No. 11 of 24 November 2020 on the revision of Decree-Law No. 1/037 of 7 July 1993 on the revision of the Labour Code of Burundi. Concerning the minimum wage-fixing machinery, the Committee notes that sections 186 and 551 of the new text largely reproduce sections 74 and 249 of the former text and that the new text specifies that the rates must be adjusted every four years and revises the penalties set out for cases of payment of remuneration below the legal minimum wage.

Article 3 of the Convention. Operation of the minimum wage-fixing machinery. In its previous comments, noting the lack of tangible progress made in activating the minimum wage-fixing machinery provided for in the Labour Code, the Committee requested the Government to take all the necessary measures to reactivate without delay the minimum wage review process, and to provide information in this regard, particularly on any decrees adopted further to this review. It also requested the Government to provide information on the minimum wages applicable by category, as fixed by collective agreements in the various branches of activity or in enterprises. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that a tripartite committee has been established to determine the terms of reference for an impartial study to be conducted by experts leading to a proposal for the guaranteed inter-occupational minimum wage (SMIG) in the national socio-economic context. It also notes that the COSYBU in its observations recognizes the Government’s willingness to fix the rate of the updated minimum wages but asks once again that it accelerate the review process of these rates. While noting this information, the Committee is bound to observe that the SMIG has still not been adjusted since 1988 and that no information on collective bargaining with regard to minimum wages applicable by category has been provided by the Government. In this context, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to carry out without delay an adjustment of the SMIG, in the light of the outcomes of the review initiated in the abovementioned tripartite committee. The Committee also once again requests the Government to provide information on the minimum wages applicable to various categories of workers, fixed by collective agreements in the various branches of activity or in enterprises.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2022.]