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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report and the attached documentation.

Article 3 of the Convention. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with regret that the guaranteed interoccupational minimum wage (SMIG) and the guaranteed minimum agricultural wage (SMAG) have not been readjusted for over ten years and remain at the 1995 level, or 25,480 CFA per month. The Government recognizes that the current minimum wage rate is derisory and insufficient to provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families. It also reiterates that this situation is linked to the imposition of a structural adjustment programme by the international financial institutions. The Committee is bound to observe that a system of minimum wages serves no useful purpose as a measure of social protection designed to overcome poverty and to ensure the satisfaction of the workers’ subsistence needs unless minimum wage rates are periodically reviewed in light of the socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country. The Committee considers that when minimum rates of pay are systematically left to lose most of their value so that they ultimately bear no relationship with the real needs of the workers, minimum wage fixing is in fact reduced to a mere formality devoid of any substance. While noting that under paragraph 4 of the Protocol of Agreement signed on 23 November 2002 between the Government and the Union of Trade Unions of Chad (UST), negotiations should be pursued for the revision of the current SMIG rate, the Committee asks the Government to take the appropriate steps to ensure that the national minimum wage is periodically examined, and eventually revised, in full consultation with the social partners and in accordance with the economic and social realities of the country.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that, according to the statistical information provided by the Government, as at 31 December 2005, the number of registered workers remunerated at the SMIG and SMAG rates stood at approximately 31,000. It also notes the Government’s statement that data on inspection results and infringements observed are not available. The Committee would appreciate if the Government would continue supplying general information on the practical application of the Convention. It also hopes that the Government, in response to the comments made by the Committee under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), will make an effort to collect and communicate information regarding the functioning of the labour inspection services, especially in matters related to the payment of minimum wage.