Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Honduras (Ratification: 1960)

Article 4 of the Convention. Partial payment of wages in kind. The Committee notes the observations of 31 August 2010 and 31 March 2011 made by the Single Confederation of Workers of Honduras (CUTH), the Workers’ General Central Union (CGT) and the Workers’ Central Union of Honduras (CTH), as well as the Government’s reply of 22 November 2011, concerning the application of the Convention. The observations refer to a draft decree to establish a national anti-crisis plan for job creation, which has since been adopted and is now Decree No. 230-2010 of 4 November 2010. The Committee notes that in its technical comments on the draft decree, the Office observed that it allowed 30 per cent of the basic wage to be paid in the form of allowances in kind. Referring to the Committee’s direct request of 2006, the Office pointed out the limited conditions in which partial payment of wages in kind may be authorized. The Committee notes with interest, in this connection, that section 6 of Decree No. 230-2010 provides for payment of the basic wage solely in currency of legal tender.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that section 7 of Decree No. 230-2010 provides that workers hired under the anti-crisis programme are subject exclusively to the programme’s provisions as regards their rights and obligations and the benefits to which they are entitled. It notes that section 7 also provides that the workers concerned will nonetheless enjoy the fundamental rights established in the Labour Code and the eight ILO fundamental Conventions. In the Committee’s view, as currently worded, this provision suggests that only the provisions of the Labour Code relating to freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the prohibition of forced labour and child labour and non discrimination apply to these workers, to the exclusion of the provisions on wage protection among others. This view appears to be confirmed by the Government in its response to the observations of CUTH, CGT and CTH. The Committee therefore asks the Government to indicate how it is ensured that workers hired under the anti-crisis programme established by Decree No. 230 2010 effectively enjoy the protection afforded by Articles 3 to 15 of the Convention.