Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Congo (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in response to its previous comments. It notes in particular that the guaranteed interoccupational minimum wage (SMIG) was last revised in 1994 and is now set at 40,370 CFA per month, or 232.90 CFA per hour, while the hourly rate of the guaranteed minimum wage in agriculture (SMAG) is fixed at 201.85 CFA. The Committee notes also the Government’s indication that in the absence of an official consumer price index which would allow a realistic estimate of the basic needs of workers and their families, the minimum wage rates currently in force have been fixed by sole reference to the lowest wage paid in public administration. While noting that the abovementioned minimum wage rates were agreed upon by the National Advisory Commission for Labour at its session of 24-28 May 1994, the Committee requests the Government to specify the decree by which the Commission’s recommendations have been officially approved and have been given force of law and to transmit a copy of that text. The Committee would also appreciate receiving copies of recent collective agreements fixing industry-specific minimum wage rates as referred to in the Government’s report.

In addition, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that a system of minimum wages risks becoming irrelevant unless minimum wage rates are kept under review and periodically revised in the light of the evolution of socio-economic conditions. Noting that the SMIG and SMAG rates have not been adjusted in the last ten years, and may therefore no longer be considered to provide a satisfactory standard of living for workers and their families, the Committee invites the Government to look into existing minimum wage levels and make every effort to ensure that any eventual increases adequately reflect the real needs of workers and their families, for instance by maintaining their purchasing power in relation to a basic basket of essential consumer goods.

The Committee further notes that the Government’s report does not elaborate on the system of supervision and sanctions ensuring compliance with minimum wage legislation nor does it contain any information on the practical application of the Convention, as required under Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. The Committee recalls in this connection that establishing decent minimum wage rates does not necessarily guarantee that these wages are effectively observed in practice, and therefore appropriate enforcement measures to secure the actual payment of these wages are clearly as important as the effective operation of the minimum wage fixing machinery. It is only through an adequate system of supervision and sanctions that the binding force of minimum wages becomes a tangible reality and a minimum wage fixing policy may achieve concrete results as an instrument of social protection and poverty reduction. The Committee hopes therefore that the Government will make an effort to collect and communicate in the very near future full particulars on the effect given to the Convention in practice, including, for instance, information on the activities of the labour inspection services in respect of minimum wages, statistics on the number and different categories of workers covered by minimum wage regulations, indications on the effect of existing minimum wage rates on the real income of workers, etc.