Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

1. The Committee notes that the Government refers to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) concerning the economic situation in Belgium (cf. ECO/EDR(97)3 produced by the Economic and Development Review Committee) which, among other things, recommends the abolition of automatic indexation and allowing payment of wages below the guaranteed minimum level. The Government considers that it might come under pressure to denounce this Convention owing to the general state of its economy, if it were obliged to follow the principal recommendations contained in the OECD report. The Government considers that the measures advocated in the report would certainly not be compatible with the Convention without a very broad interpretation being given to the terms general or particular authorization of the competent authority (Article 3, paragraph 2(3), of the Convention), which in any case covers only the minimum wages provided for in collective agreements.

2. The Committee recalls that the Convention provides for a framework (the wage-fixing machinery), the general manner in which this machinery operates, and consultation and participation of employers' and workers' organizations on an equal footing. It is the responsibility of the Government ratifying the Convention to adopt the necessary measures that will allow this general framework to function. In this regard, the Committee refers in particular to paragraph 431 of its 1992 General Survey on minimum wages, according to which any adverse effect on employment may result not so much in the obligations imposed by the Conventions or to establish minimum wage-fixing machinery as from the actual amount of the minimum wage which is determined not by the Conventions themselves but by agreement between the parties or by decision of the competent authority in consultation with the parties concerned. This General Study also recalls that such adverse effect is likely only in so far as the minimum wage is unduly high in relation to what economists call equilibrium wage levels.

3. The Committee therefore, while noting the Government's concerns, asks it to provide information on: (i) measures taken or contemplated to modify the minimum wage-fixing machinery or the mode of operation of that machinery; or (ii) any other measures that would affect the application of the Convention.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2000.]