Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951 (No. 99) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1959)

Articles 1(1) and 3(3)–(4) of the Convention. Tripartite consultations and obligatory character of the minimum wage. The Committee notes that Decree No. 2012-1982 fixes the rates for the guaranteed minimum agricultural wage (GMAW/SMAG) in two stages, to finally reach total uniformity between the amount of the GMAW and that of guaranteed minimum interprofessional wage (GMIW/SMIG). The GMAW was set at 10,608 Tunisia dinars (TND) (approximately €4.9) daily beginning from 1 July 2012 and at TND11,608 (approximately €5.4) beginning from 1 December 2012. The Committee notes the indication of the Government according to which the increase in the GMAW took place after consultation with the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations. Recalling its previous comments, the Committee requests once again that the Government communicate the most detailed information on the institutional framework in which the tripartite consultations concerning the level of the GMAW were held and on the procedural rules governing these consultations. It requests in particular to have precise information on the criteria applied for readjustment of the GMAW or eventually on the periodic national surveys on the economic situation which were carried out for this purpose.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that, in terms of Decree No. 2012-1982, the GMAW continued to be applicable only to workers of at least 18 years of age. The Committee is thus obliged to request once again that the Government specify the minimum wage rate applicable to young agricultural workers less than 18 years of age, and, if appropriate, the method used to set this rate.