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The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no reply to its previous direct request. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the matters raised in that direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee refers to its observation and the information supplied by the Government in its report. It hopes that, in the course of the planned in-depth analysis of wage structure and minimum wage fixing in the plantations sector, the Government will take account of the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention. Under this Article, in determining the level of minimum wages, account should be taken not only of economic factors, including the requirements of economic development, productivity and the desirability of attaining and maintaining a high level of employment, but also the needs of workers and their families, taking into account the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security benefits, and the relative living standards of other social groups.

The Committee therefore trusts that in the above-mentioned analysis of wage structure and wage fixing, the employers' and workers' organisations concerned will be consulted and that the factors related to the needs of workers and their families will be considered just as those relating to the economic development and productivity, to ensure that plantation workers are no longer obliged, as they are at present, to make the members of their families, including children, work in order to obtain a satisfactory income.

The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any developments and any progress achieved in this regard.