Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

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

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest the adoption of a new Act (Act No. 8.030/90) which provides for the automatic readjustment of minimum wages as of April 1990 following an accumulated fluctuation in the price of a "basic shopping basket" ("cesta básica") which includes the cost of food and basic services. The Committee notes that this Act was the product of intense negotiations, in contrast with the process followed for Legislative Decree No. 2.351/87, which was adopted by the legislative authority without consultations with the organisations of employers and workers.

The Committee recalls that in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention the Government is obliged to consult the representative organisations of employers and workers concerned in connection with the establishment, operation and modification of minimum wage-fixing machinery. However, as the Committee noted previously, in view of the fact that the body through which the organisations of employers and workers were consulted was no longerwactive; considering also the comments made by a number of trade union organisations in relation to this Convention and Convention No. 26, to which the Committee referred previously; and in view of the fact that Act No. 8.030/90 is based on the Bill to Enact Provisional Measures No. 145, the Committee requests the Government to inform it of the machinery that exists for the systematic consultation of the organisations concerned.

Finally, the Committee notes the information concerning the recent fluctuations in wages, which is contained in the report on the labour market situation in 1986-89, attached to the Government's report on Convention No. 122. The Committee hopes that the Government will continue to supply information on the manner in which this Convention is applied, as requested in point V of the report form.