Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1970)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its reports received on 13 April 2015, 2 October 2018 and 20 September 2022.

Parts I and II of the Convention. Improvement of standards of living. The Government indicates that Tunisia is in the process of preparing a new model of economic and social development following the adoption of a new Constitution on 25 July 2022. The Government adds that, in order to improve workers’ purchasing power, a bilateral agreement was signed on 1 January 2022 between the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts (UTICA) and the General Federation of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) concerning salary increases in the private sector in 2022–24. The Government indicates that this agreement provides for an increase in basic monthly pay (from 6.5 to 6.75 per cent over the period 2022–24) and the monthly contributions of employees of enterprises subject to sectoral collective agreements. Furthermore, the Government reiterates that the improvement of standards of living is a core objective, being one of the fundamental priorities of Tunisia since the adoption of the new Constitution. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on the manner in which the plans for economic development, including the proclaimed new model of economic and social development, contribute to the principal objective of improving standards of living and are “primarily directed to the well-being and development of the population”, as required by the Convention (Articles 1 and 2). The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the implementation and results obtained in the context of the bilateral agreement of 1 January 2022 relating to wage increases in 2022-2024. Furthermore, in the absence of information in this regard, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken with a view to improving living conditions in rural areas, promoting productive capacity and improving the standards of living of agricultural producers (Articles 3 and 4).

Part IV. Remuneration of workers. Advances on wages. Since 1973, the Committee has noted the absence of provisions in the national legislation regulating the maximum amount of advances on wages, limiting the amount of advances in consideration of taking up employment or establishing the principle that any advance paid in excess of the maximum amount laid down is unrecoverable, as required by Article 12 of the Convention. In its 2005 comment, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that section 150 of the Labour Code (which provides that an employer who issues a cash advance may only obtain reimbursement by successively withholding amounts not exceeding one tenth of the wages due) may “be applied tacitly to the recovery of advances of wages relying on the same principle regarding the regulation of maximum amounts withheld”. The Committee then requested the Government to provide examples of court decisions or administrative resolutions giving effect to Article 12 of the Convention, which requires the competent authority to regulate the conditions under which advances on wages may be granted. In the absence of concrete information provided in this regard, the Committee has been requesting the Government, since 2009, to provide examples of measures giving effect to the provisions of Article 12 of the Convention. The Committee notes with regret, however, that the Government merely refers once again to section 150 of the Labour Code and reiterates that no court rulings or administrative decisions have been rendered to give effect to this section of the Labour Code. In view of the above, the Committee urges the Government to adopt without delay the necessary measures to (i) regulate the maximum amount of advances on wages, (ii) indicate clearly the amount of advances which may be made to a worker in consideration of taking up employment and (iii) establish the principle that any advance paid in excess of the maximum amount is unrecoverable, as required by Article 12 of the Convention.