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Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Germany

Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) (Ratification: 1929)
Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951 (No. 99) (Ratification: 1954)

Other comments on C026

Direct Request
  1. 2017
  2. 2012
  3. 2007
  4. 2003
  5. 1998
  6. 1993

Other comments on C099

Direct Request
  1. 2017
  2. 2012
  3. 2007
  4. 2003
  5. 1998

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In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions concerning minimum wages, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 26 and 99 together.
The Committee notes the observations of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) received in 2016 on the application of Convention No. 26.
Minimum wage-fixing machinery. The Committee takes note with interest of the adoption on 11 August 2014 of the Minimum Wage Act (the Act) that establishes a national minimum wage of general application and a machinery for its periodic adjustment. This machinery includes a standing Minimum Wage Commission.
Articles 1 and 2 of Convention No. 26 and Article 1 of Convention No. 99. Categories of workers excluded from the Act. The Committee notes that, in its observations, the DGB considers that the fact that the minimum wage established under the Act does not cover workers under the age of 18 years old who have not completed a vocational training and workers who were previously in a situation of long-term unemployment raises issues of conformity with the Convention. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication in its report that these exceptions aim at securing the integration of the workers concerned into the labour market and at promoting the completion of vocational training education. Moreover, the Committee notes that in the case of workers who were previously in a situation of long-term unemployment the exclusion from the protection of the minimum wage only concerns the first six months of their employment, in accordance with section 22(4) of the Act.
Article 4 of Conventions Nos 26 and 99. Adequate system of supervision and inspection. The Committee notes that in its observations the DGB indicates that despite the recent introduction of the statutory minimum wage, the staff of the Tax Enforcement Unit for Undeclared Work (FKS) of the Customs Authority, which is responsible for controlling compliance with the Act, was barely raised. The DGB also indicates that the number of inspections concerning minimum wages is insufficient, especially in economic sectors at risk and in smaller companies. The Committee notes the Government’s information that FKS inspections are risk-based, and are also carried out on the basis of anonymous complaints, and that every inspection has included a minimum wage review under the Act. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the manner in which it ensures the enforcement of the Act, including the number of inspection staff, the number of inspections undertaken for this purpose and the sectors concerned.
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