CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the annexes thereto.

Article 2 of the Convention. With reference to section 96(6) of the Industrial Relations Act which provides for the possibility of paying workers’ remuneration partly in legal tender and partly in the form of non-cash benefits or advantages, the Committee requests the Government to supply additional information on the extent to which recently enacted remuneration order regulations provide for such method of payment, the nature of the most frequently authorized benefits or advantages, and any other particulars showing the manner in which the requirements of this Article of the Convention are given effect in practice.

Article 3, paragraph 5. As regards the reduced minimum wage rates applicable to disabled workers, the Committee notes the statistical information concerning the number of special permits granted in the period 1997-2002 in respect of physically handicapped workers employed in the sugar industry. The Committee recalls, in this regard, paragraph 176 of its General Survey of 1992 on minimum wages in which it concluded that the reasons that prompted the adoption of lower minimum wage rates for groups of workers on account of their disabilities should be regularly re-examined in the light of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value.

Article 5 in conjunction with Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the information regarding the approximate number of agricultural workers covered by the minimum wage legislation. It also notes the data on the number of inspections carried out and the amount of money recovered during the period 1997-2002 in the different branches of the agricultural sector. The Committee invites the Government to continue supplying up-to-date information on all aspects of the implementation and enforcement of the minimum wage legislation in respect of agricultural workers.

In addition, the Committee refers to the comments made under Convention No. 26.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2004.]