Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Uruguay (Ratification: 1977)

Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government's report as well as the discussion that took place at the Conference Committee in June 1991.

In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to supply information on the measures taken or envisaged: (a) to take into consideration the elements referred to in Article 3(a) of the Convention; (b) to ensure the consultations, in the fixing or reviewing of minimum wages, through wage councils or otherwise; (c) to ensure consultations with workers concerned in establishing the minimum wages of rural workers; and (d) as regards the fixing of the national minimum wage, to ensure consultations and to take into account the elements referred to in Article 3.

A Government representative at the Conference Committee in June 1991 stated that nearly 100 per cent of private sector workers had collective agreements, including a mechanism for adjusting wages, that administrative decisions respecting wages constitute an exception in the absence of collective agreements, and that, although there was no impediment to fixing the minimum wage of rural workers by collective agreement, the dispersion of agricultural workers makes organizing and negotiating difficult.

In its report, the Government indicates that wages are fixed in the system of wages councils under Act No. 10449 which establishes a structure of tripartite negotiations, and that the Executive Power transforms their findings into decrees under Legislative Decree No. 14791. It also indicates that the national minimum wage fixed by the Executive Power applies to practically no workers, because minimum wages fixed for each sector or category of workers are much higher than that. Several Decrees dated between 1991 and 1992 fixing the amount of the national minimum wage are attached to the Government's report.

The Committee notes the above information. It requests the Government to provide further information on the functioning in practice of wages councils under Act No. 10449 and on minimum wages fixed by branches of activity and categories of workers, including, for example, number of workers covered and texts of wages councils decisions respecting minimum wages, whether published in the form of Decree or not. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate measures taken in order that such elements as the needs of workers and their families (Article 3(a)) are taken into consideration in determining the level of minimum wages.

As regards the national minimum wage, the Committee has already noted that it applies to marginal sectors and that it is fixed unilaterally by the Government. The Committee considers that a system of minimum wages, which covers any group of wage earners whose terms of employment are such that coverage would be appropriate, falls within the scope of the Convention, even if the number of persons covered by such a system is small. It therefore hopes that the Government will take measures to consult representatives of employers and workers concerned when fixing the national minimum wage, and to ensure that the elements set out in Article 3 are taken into account.

The Committee notes the Government's repeated indication that the minimum wage of rural workers is unilaterally fixed by the Government because such workers are not sufficiently organized. It recalls that Article 4, paragraph 2, requires consultation with representatives of employers and workers concerned, even if no organizations exist. The Committee therefore again asks the Government, as it already did in earlier comments, to consider adopting measures to ensure that the workers' and employers' representatives are consulted when the minimum wage of rural workers is fixed.

The Committee also requests the Government to communicate copies of any decrees fixing the minimum wages for domestic workers and for rural workers adopted since the Decrees of 1990 noted in the previous comments.