Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) - Burundi (Ratification: 1963)

Article 3 of the Convention. Operation of the minimum wage-fixing machinery. In its previous comments, the Committee recalled that the last decree fixing the guaranteed inter occupational minimum wage (SMIG) was adopted in 1988. It urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to reactivate without delay the review process of minimum wage rates, as provided for in section 249 of the Labour Code, and to carry out a readjustment of the SMIG in the light of this review. It also requested the Government to provide information on the minimum wages applicable to various categories fixed by collective agreements in the various branches of activity or in enterprises. The Committee notes that the Government refers in its report to the measures adopted in the public sector following the studies carried out in 2012 on wage policy and job classification, including the adoption of a wage adjustment for the period 2016–2019. However, with regard to the SMIG, the Government indicates that it will be reviewed as a matter of priority following the adoption of the revised Labour Code. The Committee recalls that section 249(1) of the Labour Code provides that the National Labour Council shall be consulted to consider the elements that may serve as a basis for fixing the minimum wage and conducting an annual review of minimum wage rates. In this context, the Committee is bound to reiterate its request to the Government to take all the necessary measures to reactivate the minimum wage review process immediately, as provided for in section 249 of the Labour Code, and to carry out a readjustment of the SMIG in the light of this review. It also requests the Government to provide information in this respect, as well as on the minimum wages applicable to the various categories as determined by collective agreements in the various branches of activity or in enterprises.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2020.]