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The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Articles 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12 of the Convention. Modifications and supplements to implementing legislation. The Committee recalls its previous comments in which it drew attention to certain inconsistencies of the Protection of Wages Act (Chapter 89:07) and requested the Government to take all necessary measures in order to give full effect to the requirements of Articles 2 (scope of application), 4 (partial payment of wages in kind), 8 (wage deductions), 10 (attachment and assignment of wages) and 12 (payment of wages at regular intervals) of the Convention.

In its last report, the Government provided a copy of an internal correspondence dated 1 February 2007 by which the Labour Commissioner referred the matter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Labour for further consideration. Recalling that these points have been raised in a direct request first addressed to the Government in 2001, the Committee notes with regret the delay in the Government’s response and that this does no more than reflect the lack of concrete progress in bringing its legislation into conformity with the Convention.

The Committee once again expresses its hope that the Government will take measures without further delay to modify or supplement its legislation as appropriate, and recalls that it may have recourse for this purpose to the technical expertise and assistance of the International Labour Office through its Subregional Office for the Caribbean. The Committee also wishes to refer to its 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages which contains a comprehensive review of national laws and practice and illustrates possible ways in which legislative conformity with the Convention may be ensured.