Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the information it contains. It notes in particular Order No. 1063 of 21 May 2006 establishing a general minimum wage of 4,805 Syrian pounds (approximately 70 euros) for all private sector workers in all the governorates. The Committee also notes Order No. 1759 of 27 September 2006 and Order No. 2333 of 26 December 2006 establishing the minimum wages of the various categories of employees in the restaurant and hotel sectors, respectively.

The Committee also notes with interest Act No. 24 of 10 December 2000 amending, inter alia, section 159 of the Labour Code on the setting of minimum wages, which now applies to domestic workers, who remain excluded from the general scope of application of the Code by virtue of section 5. It requests the Government to indicate whether a committee has been set up pursuant to section 156 of the Labour Code in order to establish a minimum wage for domestic workers, or whether Order No. 1063 of 21 May 2006 applies to these workers.

The Committee also notes that, since the adoption of Act No. 234 of 2001, the hiring of foreign domestic workers is authorized. It notes that, according to the Government’s report, section 16 of Order No. 81 of 21 November 2006 lists the specifications that must appear in the employment contract of these workers and the employers’ obligations, including the requirement to pay domestic workers their monthly wages at the end of each month. The Committee notes a study carried out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on foreign domestic workers in the Syrian Arab Republic, published in August 2003, which estimates that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 such workers and that they come essentially from Indonesia, the Philippines and Ethiopia. It also notes that the General Federation of Trade Unions of the Syrian Arab Republic estimates that there are approximately 60,000 such workers. Although in its report the Government states that breaches of the provisions on minimum wages are very rare, the Committee notes that, according to the abovementioned IOM study, work contracts signed by foreign domestic workers in their countries of origin are often changed or cancelled on entry to the Syrian Arab Republic, and the workers have to sign new contracts with less favourable working conditions, including lower wages. The Committee requests the Government to respond to this allegation and to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that the legislation on minimum wages is observed in practice in respect of this particularly vulnerable category of workers.

The Committee notes in this connection that, in its report, the Government refers to section 228 of the Labour Code which penalizes infringement of any provisions promulgated by Order which apply section 159 (fixing of minimum wages) with a fine ranging from 50 to 500 Syrian pounds (approximately 0.75 to 7.5 euros), the fine being multiplied in accordance with the number of workers affected by the infringement. Furthermore, the court may require the offender to pay the difference in wages due. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether it plans to increase the amounts of the fines set in section 228 of the Labour Code which were established nearly 50 years ago.

The Committee further notes that this section of the Labour Code allows, but does not require, the court to order the employer to pay the worker concerned the difference between the minimum wage and the wage actually paid. The Committee draws the Government’s attention in this connection to its General Survey of 1992 on minimum wages in which it pointed out (paragraph 382) that “the guarantee of payment of minimum wages to workers requires the establishment not only of sanctions or supervisory machinery but also of procedural mechanisms enabling the worker to recover sums due in respect of the minimum wage”. The Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation, 1970 (No. 135), in its paragraph 14(d), emphasizes that workers should be given appropriate means to exercise effectively their rights under minimum wage provisions, including the right to recover amounts by which they may have been underpaid. This right is also established in Article 10, paragraph 4, of the Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117), which the Syrian Arab Republic has also ratified. The Committee hopes that the Government will take steps without delay to have section 228 of the Labour Code amended in order to establish the right of workers to recover amounts due to them in the event of breach of the minimum wage provisions.

The Committee also notes the data communicated in the Government’s report under Convention No. 95, regarding breaches of the Labour Code reported in 2003 by the labour inspection services. It notes in this connection that the only offences recorded concern the application of section 43 of the Labour Code on the establishment of written contracts and that section 159 of the Code is not even mentioned in the inspection checklist. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the application of the Convention in practice, particularly on the number of inspections carried out per year, the manner in which compliance with the minimum wage provisions is supervised, and the penalties imposed in the event of breach of these rules.