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The Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government’s report as well as the comments made by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-IŞ) and the Confederation of Turkish Employers’ Associations (TISK). The Committee will analyse in detail at its next session the comments of the abovementioned employers’ and workers’ organizations, together with the response of the Government.

The Committee states, however, that the Government’s report does not reply to the questions raised in its previous comments. The Committee, therefore, is bound to reiterate its previous observation, which reads as follows:

The Committee has been commenting on the application in practice of the provisions, and in particular Article 12 of the Convention. It notes that the Government’s report was received on 4 November 1998 with comments made by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-IŞ), and by the Confederation of Turkish Employers’ Associations (TISK). The comments from TISK dated 24 June 1998 are in Turkish and would seem to mention the need for tax reform so as to protect wages. The Committee may come back to them at its next session when the complete translation has been available.

The Committee notes that TÜRK-IŞ is of the opinion (i) that wage earners in agriculture, homeworking and in small establishments of artisans and petty tradesmen are not covered by the protective legislation, and (ii) that it has been a widespread practice to delay the payment of wages and other benefits for months, due to the absence of effective sanctions and the reluctance of the victims to take action against the employer because of job insecurity.

Regarding the first point, the Committee recalls that it earlier noted the adoption of Act No. 3528 of 12 April 1989, which extended the scope of the provisions of Labour Act No. 1475, concerning the protection of wages to workers in the agricultural sector and to those in small commercial and artisanal enterprises. It asks the Government to include particular reference to workers in these sectors when supplying information on the application in practice of the Convention.

On the second point concerning the delayed payment of wages, the Committee notes the Government’s indications that wage arrears observed from time to time in some municipalities irrespective of region are the results of imbalance between municipal revenues and expenditure. The Government further refers to the provisions of sections 26 and 99 of the Labour Act on the regular payment of wages and sanctions in case of violation. According to the report, during the calendar year 1997, 134 undertakings were fined by the labour inspectorate under section 26 of the Labour Act, and the total of fines charged amounted to TL208,900,000 for public undertakings, and TL659,200,000 for private undertakings.

The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply, in accordance with Article 16 of the Convention and Part V of the report form, information on the application of the Convention in practice, including information on the numbers of inspections made, infringements of the relevant provisions observed and penalties imposed, as well as any statistics of the amounts of wages due, the length of the delay in payment and the workers affected.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2001.]