Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2001, publiée 90ème session CIT (2002)

Convention (n° 26) sur les méthodes de fixation des salaires minima, 1928 - Chili (Ratification: 1933)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in response to the Committee’s previous direct request.

Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee recalls its previous comments in which it noted that adopting lower minimum wage rates for groups of workers on account of their age may not be expressly prohibited under the Convention but should not contradict the principle of "equal remuneration for work of equal value". In its reply, the Government states that, by fixing a slightly lower minimum wage for young workers below 18 years of age and persons over 65 years of age, it had no intention to discriminate on the grounds of age, sex or disability. The lower minimum wage is rather designed to counterbalance the traditionally disadvantaged position of those groups of workers in obtaining employment. According to the Government, certain employers are systematically uninterested in recruiting those workers, as contrasted to experienced, non-aged workers capable of performing full-day work, and this situation tends to aggravate during periods of high unemployment.

The Committee takes due note of these explanations. However, the Committee feels obliged to point out that paying young workers or aged persons at a lower rate than others even when they perform work of the same nature, subject to the same employment conditions and meeting the same quantitative and qualitative requirements, would risk to be perceived as discriminatory and thus inconsistent with the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment set forth in the Preamble of the ILO Constitution and relevant ILO Conventions.

The Committee recalls paragraphs 171 and 176 of the 1992 General Survey on minimum wages and emphasizes that the reasons that may prompt the adoption of lower minimum wages for groups of workers on account of their age and disabilities should be regularly re-examined in the light of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, and also that the quantity and quality of work carried out should be the decisive factor in determining the wage paid. The Committee therefore requests the Government to review the criteria for fixing minimum wages for workers below 18 years of age and those aged over 65 years in order to ensure that workers in these categories receive remuneration equal to that of other workers for the same or equivalent work.

Article 5 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that, under Act No. 19.564 published in the Official Gazette of 30 May 1998, the minimum wage rates for the period 1 June 2000 to 31 May 2001 are fixed at 100,000 pesos for workers between 18 and 65 years of age, and at 77,404 pesos for adolescents below the age of 18 years, as well as for persons aged over 65 years. The Committee also notes the statistical information supplied by the Government on claims and complaints relating to the minimum wage filed in 1998 and 1999. It requests the Government to continue providing all available information on the practical application of the Convention.