R089 - Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1951 (No. 89)

The Conference recommends that each Member should apply the following provisions as rapidly as national conditions allow and report to the International Labour Office as requested by the Governing Body concerning the measures taken to give effect thereto.

I

1. 1. For the purpose of determining minimum rates of wages to be fixed it is desirable that the wage fixing body should in any case take account of the necessity of enabling the workers concerned to maintain a suitable standard of living.
2. 2. Among the factors which should be taken into consideration in the fixing of minimum wage rates are the following: the cost of living, fair and reasonable value of services rendered, wages paid for similar or comparable work under collective bargaining agreements in agriculture, and the general level of wages for work of a comparable skill in other industries in the area where the workers are sufficiently organised.

II

1. 3. Whatever form it may assume, the minimum wage fixing machinery in agriculture should operate by way of investigation into conditions in agriculture and related occupations, and consultation with the parties who are primarily and principally concerned, namely employers and workers, or their most representative organisations, where such exist. The opinion of both parties should be sought on all questions concerning minimum wage fixing and full and equal consideration given to their opinion.
2. 4. To secure greater authority for the rates that may be fixed, in cases where the machinery adopted for fixing minimum wages makes it possible, the workers and employers concerned should be enabled to participate directly and on an equal footing in the operation of such machinery through their representatives, who should be equal in number or in any case have an equal number of votes.
3. 5. In order that the employers' and workers' representatives should enjoy the confidence of those whose interest they respectively represent, in the case referred to in Paragraph 4 above, the employers and workers concerned should have the right, in so far as circumstances permit, to participate in the nomination of the representatives, and if any organisations of employers and workers exist, these should in any case be invited to submit names of persons recommended by them for appointment on the wage fixing body.
4. 6. In the case where the machinery for minimum wage fixing provides for the participation of independent persons, whether for arbitration or otherwise, these should be chosen from among men or women who are recognised as possessing the necessary qualifications for their duties and who have no such interest in agriculture or in any branch thereof as would give rise to doubt as to their impartiality.

III

1. 7. Provision should be made for a procedure for revising minimum wage rates at appropriate intervals.

IV

1. 8. For effectively protecting the wages of the workers concerned, the measures to be taken to ensure that wages are not paid at less than the minimum rates which have been fixed should include--
   • (a) arrangements for giving publicity to the minimum wage rates in force, and in particular for informing the employers and workers concerned of these rates in the manner most appropriate to national circumstances;
   • (b) official supervision of the rates actually being paid; and
   • (c) penalties for infringements of the rates in force and measures for preventing such infringements.
2. 9. A sufficient number of qualified inspectors, with powers analogous to those provided for in the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947, should be employed; these inspectors should make investigations among the employers and workers concerned with a view to ascertaining whether the wages actually paid are in conformity with the minimum rates in force and, if need be, should take such steps as may be authorised in the case of infringement of the rate fixed.
3. 10. In order to enable the inspectors to carry out their duties efficiently, employers should, where appropriate or necessary in the opinion of the competent authority, be required to keep complete and authentic records of the wages paid by them, and might also be required to issue the workers pay books or similar documents containing the information necessary for verifying whether the wages actually paid correspond to the rates in force.
4. 11. In cases where the workers are not in general in a position individually to enforce, by judicial or appropriate proceedings, their rights to recover wages due at the minimum rates in force, such other measures should be provided as may be considered effective for this purpose.