Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Luxembourg (Ratification: 1958)

Article 1 of the Convention. Minimum wage fixing machinery and minimum wage rate. In its previous comment, the Committee had requested the Government to indicate how the amount of the social minimum wage (SSM) ensured a decent standard of living to the workers concerned. In its report, the Government indicates that Luxembourg is one of the few countries in the world to adjust SSM rates to variations of the consumer price index in order to ensure a decent standard of living for workers. In this respect, the Government indicates that the SSM was readjusted on several occasions and that the Minister of Labour and Employment recently submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers a draft report on the evolution of wages, to be submitted to the Parliament together with a bill to increase the SSM by 1.5 per cent from 1 January 2013. Accordingly, the SSM for non-qualified and qualified employees will reach €1,874.19 per month for unskilled workers and €2,249.03 per month for skilled workers. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the evolution of minimum wage rates.

Article 3(2)(2). Machinery for revising the minimum wage rate – Participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations in equal numbers and on equal terms. With reference to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that, in the context of the consultation process, workers’ and employers’ organizations are invited to express their views on draft laws concerning the readjustment of the SSM. Recalling that under the Convention consultations with employers’ and workers’ organizations in equal numbers and on equal terms are needed at all stages of the process of fixing or revising minimum wages, the Committee requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the institutional framework in which consultations are held (e.g. frequency, mode of participation, mandate).

Article 3(2)(3). Differentiated minimum wage rates for young workers. With reference to its previous request, the Committee notes the adoption of the Act of 6 February 2009 on compulsory schooling, which entered into force at the beginning of the 2009–10 school year and raised the end of compulsory schooling from 15 to 16 years of age. It also notes that, according to section L.222-5 of the Labour Code, the rate of the SSM for workers under 18 years of age is set at 80 per cent of the SSM of adult workers with respect to young persons between 17 and 18 years, and at 75 per cent for young persons between 15 and 17 years. In this regard, the Committee recalls that, while the Convention does not prohibit the fixing of different minimum wage rates on the basis of criteria such as age, minimum wage levels should be essentially determined on the basis of objective factors such as the quality and quantity of work, according to the principle of “equal remuneration for work of equal value”. The Committee also recalls, as underlined in paragraph 176 of its General Survey of 1992 on minimum wage fixing, that the reasons that prompted the adoption of lower minimum wage rates for groups of workers on account of their age should be regularly re-examined in the light of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to provide further clarifications on this issue.