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

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Zambia (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report. It notes in particular the adoption of the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment (General) Order, 2002, and the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment (Shop Workers) Order, 2002, revising the hourly and monthly wage rates applicable to most shop workers and to all employees with the exception of domestic workers, government or municipal employees and employees whose wages and conditions of employment are regulated by collective agreement.

Article 4, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Convention. For many years, the Committee has been drawing attention to the need to amend section 3(1) of the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment Act (Cap. 276) in order to make provision for full consultations not only with the workers’ unions but also the employers’ organizations. In its previous reports, the Government has often stated that appropriate legislative action would soon be taken even though, as a matter of practice, employers’ and workers’ representatives had always been equally involved in the determination of minimum wages. The Committee once again asks the Government to take the necessary action without further delay in order to align the national legislation with established practice, as described by the Government, and thus with the requirements of the Convention regarding the full consultation and direct participation of both employers’ and workers’ representative organizations in the process of minimum wage fixing. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any new developments in this regard.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. The Committee would appreciate if the Government could continue providing up-to-date and detailed information regarding the application of the Convention in practice, including for instance, statistics on the number of workers covered by relevant legislation, extracts from labour inspection reports indicating the number of violations of minimum wage provisions and the penalties imposed, the minimum wage rates applicable to workers excluded from the coverage of the two statutory instruments referred to above (e.g. domestic workers, persons employed in the petroleum industry, coffee stores, bakeries, milk or grocery shops, newspapers, etc.), available data on the evolution of minimum wage rates in recent years as compared to the evolution of indicators, such as the inflation rate, in the same period or of minimum rates of pay established through collective bargaining, as well as any other particulars bearing on the functioning of the minimum wage fixing machinery.