Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 1997, Publicación: 86ª reunión CIT (1998)

Convenio sobre la protección del salario, 1949 (núm. 95) - Federación de Rusia (Ratificación : 1961)

Representation under article 24 of the Constitution

The Committee notes that the Governing Body at its 270th Session (November 1997) adopted the report of the committee set up to examine the representation alleging non-observance by the Russian Federation of the Convention, made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution by Education International and the Education and Science Employees' Union of Russia.

The Committee notes that, following the recommendations of the above committee, the Governing Body urged the Government to ensure the full application of the Convention and in this regard:

(i) to take all necessary measures, in full consultation with workers' and employers' representatives, to ensure prompt payment of wage arrears owed by different state budgets, enterprises and organizations;

(ii) to strengthen supervision of payment of wages, notably through the reinforcement of the activities of the labour inspectorate;

(iii) to ensure effective enforcement of dissuasive sanctions for the non-payment of wages;

(iv) to take specific measures to prevent the diversion to illicit purposes of funds which should be used to pay wages;

(v) to ensure that measures taken to reimburse wage arrears do not result in the violation of other provisions of the Convention.

The Governing Body further invited the Government to supply detailed information on all the measures taken or envisaged in accordance with the above recommendations and the consequent development of the situation, including:

(i) details of the numbers of workers affected, the nature and amount of wages owed, and the number and nature of the establishments and enterprises concerned in the non-payment of wages as well as the amount of payments already made;

(ii) the number of labour inspection visits made in connection with the regular payment of wages, the number and nature of infringements observed, and the number and nature of penalties imposed, as well as similar information on criminal cases involving non-payment or delayed payment of wages;

(iii) the extent to which and the manner in which the schedules for the payment of wage arrears in educational establishments and the federal public budget sector are put into effect.

Observations received from workers' organizations

Since the Committee's previous session, further comments have been received concerning the application of Article 12(1) of the Convention (Regular payment of wages) from various workers' organizations as follows. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) indicates, in a letter dated 21 March 1997, that the total wage debt of enterprises of all forms of ownership has passed the threshold of 50 "trillion" (as in the original letter in English) roubles (over US$9 "billion" (idem)), thus bringing the country to the verge of a social explosion, and that nearly all trade unions of Russia were joining in the Day of Protest later that month. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) submitted with their letter of 28 August 1997 ample documentation prepared by the Independent Coal Employees' Federation of Russia and the Russian Chemical and Allied Industries Workers' Union. The attached documents include not only communications from sectoral trade unions, referring to the situation of wage arrears in their sectors, such as the chemical industry, the timber and related industries, and oil and gas, but also records of proceedings of various meetings held regarding the issue of wage arrears by high officials of the Government. Just to quote some examples, the Central Committee of the Timber and Related Industries Workers' Union of Russia indicates that the wage arrears increased in 1996 by 2.9 times to reach 1,523,000,000,000 roubles; the Trade Unions of the Workers of the Oil and Gas Branches of Industry and Construction note that the wage arrears in the industries of the oil and gas complex amounted to 8,100,210,000,000 roubles as of 1 February 1997. The Russian Chemical and Allied Industries Workers' Union states that wage arrears in the branches of industries covered by it amounted to 1,362,000,000,000 roubles, and also notes that cases were revealed where the funds were manipulated by banks in the interest of certain persons instead of spent on the needs of the enterprises.

Information supplied by the Government

The Committee notes that the Government transmitted several communications in response. In the communication received in October 1997, the Government indicates that the total wage arrears stood at 54,300,000,000,000 roubles as at 1 September 1997, of which 45,100,000,000,000 roubles (83.5 per cent) were owed in the production sectors and 8,900,000,000,000 roubles (16.5 per cent) in the social sector (paid out of the state budget). According to the Government, while the amount of wage arrears constantly increased in the first half of the year, there had been a positive trend in the last two months: the figure decreased by 738,000,000,000 roubles in July and 204,000,000,000 in August.

The Government further indicates that 81.2 per cent of the wage arrears are attributable to the fact that enterprises and organizations lack their own resources, and the remaining 18.7 per cent is due to the inadequate financing of budgets at all levels. While in the social sphere 86.7 per cent of wage arrears are due to the lack of direct financing out of budget, the corresponding figure in the industrial sectors is only 5.2 per cent. Of the total arrears for the production sectors, 60.4 per cent is owed in industry (among the branches, 8,600,000,000,000 roubles in the energy sector, of which 3,200,000,000,000 is in the coal sector), 15.8 per cent in construction, 16 per cent in agriculture, and 7.6 per cent in transport. In the social sphere, 48.7 per cent is owed in educational establishments and 32.5 per cent in health care establishments. Some 96,700 enterprises and organizations owe wages, including 50,900 in the production sector and 45,800 in the social sphere. In another communication received on 28 November 1997, the Government adds that the wage arrears in educational institutions fell in comparison with the preceding period by 14.1 per cent to a figure of 4,374,000,000,000 roubles.

As to the measures taken to settle wage arrears and to ensure timely payment of wages, the Government mentions several Presidential Decrees and Orders, and also a procedure for cooperation between the bodies of the executive branch in the exchange of information on the financial status of organizations in arrears in the payment of wages, approved by the Ministry of Labour and other concerned ministries on 8 August 1997, as well as a draft government Order on priority measures to settle wage arrears in the sector of the economy that is not financed out of the budget, which was communicated to the Government on 24 September 1997. The Government also mentions large figures of amounts provided as financial assistance to the constituent territories.

As to the measures for supervision, the Government states that, in the first half of 1997, the Russian labour inspectorate carried out checks in more than 22,000 organizations, in which some 14,500 flagrant violations of wage legislation were revealed. More than 20,000 formal instructions were issued to rectify infringements through administrative audits of enterprises and organizations, which resulted in the payment of wage arrears in several regions. Following the instructions of the Provisional Extraordinary Presidential Commission (Protocol of 8 July 1997, No. 8) the labour inspectorate, together with the Ministry of Finance, investigated federal executive authorities and territorial bodies regarding the use of funds from the federal budget for the purpose of paying wages, during which cases of inappropriate use were discovered in 27 of the constituent territories.

Concerning penalties, the Government mentions in its communication of December 1996 a draft federal Act introducing criminal liability for gross violations in connection with delayed payment of wages, but no further information has been received on this point. As regards the timetables for settling wage arrears, the Government's communication of October 1997 only refers to the fact that such timetables have been drawn up regarding educational establishments, the coal industry and the scientific sector, and contains no information on their implementation.

Conclusions

The Committee notes that, in spite of the measures so far taken by the Government, there is no evidence of definite improvement in the situation of wage arrears since the figures cited by the Government as the decrease in July and August 1997, put together, do not reach even 2 per cent of the total wage debts outstanding at the beginning of September 1997.

The Committee notes that the Government recognizes, in its communication of October 1997, the necessity of a package of measures, including both urgent measures and those aimed at improving the economy as a whole: to strengthen supervision and liability of officials for the timely payment of wages, including labour inspection and supervision by the public prosecutor's office, and involvement of trade unions; to ensure compliance with the Order of 22 February 1997 increasing the liability of state representatives on the boards of joint stock companies for the timely payment of wages to their employees; to expedite the adoption of the Act to amend the Code of Administrative Offences and the Penal Code, which is before the State Duma (the lower house of Parliament), among other things. It notes however that these indications appear to be more statements of general principles rather than information on concrete and specific measures taken by the Government.

The Committee shares the concern expressed by the above committee set up by the Governing Body over the gravity of the situation and the social consequences of the non-observance of Article 12(1) of the Convention. It recalls that the Government is responsible, in terms of the provisions of the Convention, not only for the regular payment of wages directly made out of the federal budgets, but also to ensure the payment of wages in conformity with the provisions of the Convention to all the workers in the country to whom wages are paid or payable. The Committee has been emphasizing the importance of such means as (i) effective supervision, (ii) imposition of appropriate penalties to prevent and punish infringements, and (iii) steps to make good the prejudice suffered. In all these three aspects, the information supplied so far by the Government does not give the impression that all possible measures have been exhausted.

The Committee therefore urges the Government to make its clear commitment to put an end to this violation of the Convention and to take all necessary measures to ensure the payment of wages on time and the rapid settlement of wage arrears already outstanding, and to continue to supply information on them and their results. It asks the Government to supply, in particular, concrete information on the supervision, penalties and the settlement of wage arrears, including texts of any relevant legislation, such as the one on the enhancement of penalties. The Committee would urge the Government to include information on any decision made by courts of law or other tribunals concerning the question of regular payment of wages.

The Committee earlier noted the Government's indication that a Bill had been adopted to amend the Labour Code concerning sanctions for violation of the Code, in particular in the case of unpaid or late payment of wages and that a law was adopted in third reading by the Duma concerning the compensation paid to the citizens for material loss for unpaid or late payment of wages. In the absence of information, it again asks the Government to include detailed information on this or similar legislative measures in its report.

In the absence of a reply to the previous observation concerning other provisions of the Convention such as: Article 3 concerning the prohibition of payment with promissory notes or coupons; Article 4 concerning the regulation of payment in kind; Article 11 on the treatment of wages as privileged credit in the case of bankruptcy; and Article 15 on the sanctions in case of violation, the Committee requests the Government to indicate measures taken or envisaged to ensure not only the regular payment of wages but also the application of all the provisions of the Convention. It also requests the Government to include, for instance, extracts from official reports that show the number of investigations made, infringements observed and penalties imposed.

The Government is also asked to refer to the points raised in the direct request, which the Committee is repeating since no reply has been made for a few years.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 86th Session and to report in detail in 1998.]