Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Malawi (Ratification: 1965)

Article 3 of Conventions Nos 26 and 99. Minimum wage fixing machinery – Consultation of the social partners. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that consultations on the review of the minimum wage are made with the Employers’ Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM) and the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU), which are respectively the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Government also indicates that, in 2012, the social partners expressed a strong desire to adopt a sector-based minimum wage fixing arrangement and that the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council was responsible for carrying out periodic wage surveys for both sectoral and general minimum wage fixing processes. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any change that may be introduced in the minimum wage fixing machinery and on any wage surveys undertaken by the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council.

Article 4 of Conventions Nos 26 and 99. Measures to ensure the application of the minimum wage. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that the recommendations of the ILO technical assistance mission in 2006 concerning the labour inspection system still remain to be implemented due to the phased implementation of the functional review of the Ministry of Labour, and that further technical assistance had been sought from the ILO in light of the developments since 2006. The Committee also notes that an improved labour administration system is one of the outcomes under country priority III identified in the Malawi Decent Work Country Programme (2011–16). As regards the specific issue of the enforcement of the minimum wage, the Committee notes that section 55(2) of Employment Act No. 6 of 2000 provides that any employer who pays wages below the minimum wage shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of MWK50,000 and to imprisonment for ten years. It further notes the information provided by the Government, in its reports under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129), that inspections are carried out in various establishments, both industrial and commercial, including agricultural undertakings and that the issues targeted include wages. Hoping that the Government will soon be in a position to report progress towards a strengthened and more effective inspection system, the Committee requests the Government to provide specific information on the results of the activities of the labour inspectorate concerning the application of the minimum wage.

Informal economy. The Committee noted in its 2014 General Survey, Minimum wage systems, paragraph 402, that one of the greatest challenges lies in ensuring compliance with minimum wage provisions in the informal economy. On this issue, it wishes to draw the Government’s attention to paragraph 18 of the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), which provides that through the transition to the formal economy, Members should progressively extend, in law and practice, to all workers in the informal economy, … a minimum wage that takes into account the needs of workers and considers relevant factors including, but not limited to, the cost of living and the general level of wages in their country. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the national law and practice in relation to minimum wage in the informal economy, including on the activity of the labour inspectorate in this context.