Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - China (Ratification: 1930)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report on the changes and operation of the minimum wage fixing machinery introduced in 1993. It notes in particular that, of the minimum wages established in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, with the exception of Tibet, 14 were adjusted in 2001 and that the number of workers protected by minimum wage provisions at the end of that year was 70.5 million. The Committee also requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points.

Article 3, paragraph 2(2), of the Convention. The Committee notes from the Government’s report the establishment in August 2001 of a national system of tripartite meetings to harmonize labour relations and covering the issue of minimum wages. While noting that the above system has already been established in over ten major municipalities and provinces, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the text establishing the legal basis of the system and to indicate the manner in which this system relates to the consultations envisaged in section 6 of the Regulations concerning minimum wages in enterprises of 24 November 1993 for the purpose of fixing the rate of such minimum wages. Furthermore, as the Labour Law of 5 July 1994 and the above Regulations of 1993 do not explicitly provide for the participation of the employers and workers concerned in the operation of minimum wage fixing machinery in equal numbers and on equal terms, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the manner in which such participation is ensured and guaranteed in practice.

Article 4, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that under section 14 of the 1993 Regulations concerning minimum wages in enterprises, the rates of the minimum wages applicable in a province, autonomous region or municipality shall be published in the local official bulletin, as well as in at least one of the newspapers in circulation throughout the region. In this respect, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to paragraphs 358 to 361 of its General Survey of 1992 on minimum wages in which it stated that for practical reasons the publication of minimum wage rates in the official gazette is not itself sufficient to ensure that the employers and workers concerned are made aware of the rates in force and that they should be made known more generally, for example by posting notices in the places where wages are paid or in workplaces or by distributing the applicable regulations concerning conditions of employment, including minimum wages. The Committee would therefore be grateful to be provided with fuller information on the measures taken in practice to ensure that the employers and workers concerned are kept informed in a continuous and easily understandable manner of the minimum wage rates in force.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. With regard to the implementation of the minimum wage regulations, the Committee notes that some 955,000 employers were inspected in 2001 and that 920 million yuan in wage arrears and unpaid wages were recovered for workers. It also notes the existence in 2001 throughout the country of 3,174 labour protection supervisory bodies with an overall staff of 40,000. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing full information, including statistics, in future reports on the manner in which the Convention is applied in both national law and practice. Furthermore, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep it informed of any measure adopted or envisaged and any progress achieved in the establishment of minimum wage fixing machinery in territorial entities such as Tibet, which have no such machinery and in which there appears to be no other effective arrangement for the fixing of wages and in which wages are exceptionally low.