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

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Cameroon (Ratification: 1973)

Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention. Method of fixing and adjusting minimum wages. The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report to the effect that the National Labour Advisory Board (CNCT) and its standing committee responsible for issuing opinions on matters within the CNCT’s remit, are composed of equal numbers of employers’ and workers’ representatives. It notes in this connection the comments of 20 October 2011 by the Cameroon Trade Union Congress (CTUC) to the effect that the CNCT is composed only of representatives of the labour administration. Noting that pursuant to section 119(2) of the Labour Code, the procedures and methods of organizing and running these two bodies must be set by regulation, the Committee requests the Government to explain further the principles governing the assignment of seats to the employers’ and the workers’ contingents, and to provide copies of the legal texts, if any, issuing such rules. It also asks the Government to send its comments on the CTUC’s observations.

In reply to the Committee’s previous comments in which it requested details of the economic and social indicators taken into account in adjusting the amount of the guaranteed interoccupational minimum wage (SMIG), the Government indicates that the SMIG rate was set on the basis of both microeconomic data and macroeconomic aggregates, as well as trends in the international environment. The inflation rate and the results of the 2009 household survey (ECAM III) were also taken into account. The Committee notes, however, that according to that survey, 43.1 per cent of the active population is poor. It notes that the respondents cite a drop in income or insufficient income among the three main causes of poverty. Furthermore, nearly six households out of ten report that minimum needs are not met for food, clothing, accommodation, household equipment, health, bodily care, transport, communication, leisure, education and personal networking. The Committee understands that in the first half of 2011, the National Statistics Institute (INS) noted an overall increase of 2.8 per cent in prices, due in particular to the rise in food prices (5 per cent) and household expenditure (3.3 per cent). Noting that the SMIG is fixed at a rate deemed to be among the lowest in Central Africa and pointing out that the main aim of the Convention is the determination of minimum wage rates that afford workers a decent standard of living, the Committee requests the Government to send its observations on the ability of the current SMIG rates to achieve this aim and so contribute to the gradual reduction of poverty and the improvement of social protection for workers.

Lastly, the Committee notes that, according to the CTUC, pay scales under agreements are neither applied nor reviewed by the prescribed dates. As an example, the CTUC indicates that workers employed by surveillance companies are paid at below SMIG rates, despite the minimum wage rates in force under agreements. The Committee requests the Government to send any comments it deems appropriate in reply to the CTUC’s observations.

Article 5. Inspection and penalties. The Committee takes note of the CTUC’s statement to the effect that the inspection services have neither the staff nor the material resources they need to force offending employers to apply the minimum wage regulations. The Committee also understands that many workers are currently paid at a rate significantly lower than that of the SMIG, particularly in banana plantations, where monthly wages range from 15,000 to 18,000 CFA francs (from US$30 to 36). While noting the Government’s effort to improve the means of action available to the labour inspection services, it requests the Government to indicate the measures it plans to take in order to ensure that implementation of the regulations on minimum wages is supervised effectively and systematically.

The Government indicates in its report that application of the minimum wage rates to domestic workers is supervised only at the request of the worker concerned, since the right to inviolability of the home precludes inspection visits. The Committee nevertheless notes that according to a study on domestic workers in Cameroon published in May 2010 by the International Organization for Migration (OIM), 69 per cent of domestic workers are paid at rates below the SMIG, and 96 per cent of them and 66 per cent of their employers are unacquainted with the regulations on minimum wages. The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention in this connection to Paragraph 14(a) of the Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation, 1970 (No. 135), which recommends the adoption of arrangements for giving publicity to minimum wage provisions in languages or dialects understood by workers who need protection, adapted where necessary to the needs of illiterate persons. Referring to paragraph 390 of its 1992 General Survey on minimum wages, in which it points out that the provision of information and training to workers concerning their rights is without doubt one of the most appropriate measures to ensure the respect of provisions on minimum wages, the Committee hopes that the Government will take promptly measures to ensure that domestic workers and their employers are better informed about the wage rates applying in the sector. The Committee would also like to draw the Government's attention to the adoption of the Domestic Workers’ Convention (No. 189) and Recommendation (No. 201), 2011, which aim to secure decent living and working conditions for domestic workers. It hopes that the Government will shortly be in a position to ratify Convention No. 189 and asks it to keep the Office informed of any developments in this regard.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to send information on the practical effect given to the Convention including, for example, the minimum wage rates in force for workers in the private sector and in the public sector, the approximate number of workers paid at minimum wage rates, comparative statistics on trends in the SMIG and the consumer price index in recent years, extracts of labour inspection reports showing the number of contraventions of the minimum wage legislation and the penalties imposed, surveys on trends on the economic and social indicators used in adjusting minimum wage rates and any other official studies on matters relating to minimum wage policy.