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

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Comoros (Ratification: 1978)

Article 12 of the Convention. Regular payment of wages. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that despite its repeated commitments to put an end to the persistent problem of the deferred payment of wages, especially in the public sector, the Government, hindered by economic and political constraints, had not come forward with any specific measure to pay off the wage debt. In its last report, the Government states that it paid six months of wages in April 2010 and three months of wages in May 2011 to officials affected by the deferred payment of their wages. In this connection, the Committee understands that the Government received financial assistance from international institutions and donor countries in 2010, designed to help it settle its wage arrears. Furthermore, the Committee understands that the amount of time that officials were not paid wages during the 1995–2010 period is estimated to be between 35 and 45 months. Referring to its previous observation and to paragraph 367 of its 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages, the Committee recalls that a situation in which part of the workforce is systematically denied the fruits of its labour cannot be prolonged and that priority action is needed to put an end to such practices. The Committee trusts that the Government will, in the immediate future, formulate a schedule for the prompt and final settlement of all wage arrears. It requests the Government once again to provide detailed information on the extent of the problem, particularly on the overall amount of outstanding wage arrears, the approximate number of workers concerned and the average length of delay in the payment of wages. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged concerning the use of the foreign assistance it was granted to settle the wage debt.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.