Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1993, publiée 80ème session CIT (1993)

Convention (n° 95) sur la protection du salaire, 1949 - Fédération de Russie (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee takes note of the comments received from the Trade Union Council of the Republic of Karelia, alleging that in mid-1992, during two months, about 400,000 workers did not receive their wages in time, and that on 20 June 1992, the amount of non-paid wages, grants and pensions exceeded one thousand million roubles. The Trade Union Council holds the Government responsible for this development which it deems unlawful and in violation of the Convention.

In its reply to these comments, the Government states that in the course of the transition to a market economy, the freeing of prices of goods, together with an excessive increase in wages that was often not matched by output, has led to an imbalance in the volume of money available to pay for that output; producers found themselves with huge mutual debts and in a situation in which banks found themselves without adequate credit resources or cash available for the payment of wages. However, the President and the Government of the Russian Federation were taking steps to stabilize the economy and to regulate the payment of workers' wages.

The Government further states that a procedure for the index-linking of unpaid wages in state enterprises, institutions and organizations has been established. This procedure provided for the budget of the Russian Federation to be used for the index-linking in May and June 1992 of the unpaid and deposited wages of industrial and office workers at the rate of 80 per cent per annum (6.6 per cent monthly) or 0.22 per cent in respect of each day on which the payment of wages is withheld.

The Committee points out that according to Article 12, paragraph 1, wages should be paid regularly. The non-payment of wages and their depositing cannot be considered to be in line with this provision of the Convention.

The Committee recalls the conclusions of the Committee set up to examine the representation made by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers alleging non-observance by Portugal of, inter alia, this Convention (cf. ILO Official Bulletin, Vol. LXVIII, 1985, Series B, Special Supplement 4/1985) in paragraph 41 of its report. The above Committee noted that the effective application of the Convention, through the national provisions giving effect to it, should comprise three principal aspects: supervision, appropriate penalties to prevent and punish infringements and steps to make good the prejudice suffered.

The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be implemented through legislation and in practice, to enable the enterprises concerned to fulfil their obligations vis-à-vis the workers, and asks the Government to report on any developments in this respect.

The Committee is raising further comments in a request addressed directly to the Government.