Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2002, Publicación: 91ª reunión CIT (2003)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the appended submissions from the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TISK), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) and the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-IŞ) containing observations on the application of this Convention. The Committee notes with satisfaction the adoption of Act No. 4773 on 9 August 2002 to amend the Labour Code by extending its scope to agricultural and forestry workers. It requests the Government to provide the Office with a copy of the above Act. It also asks the Government to send information in future reports on progress made in applying the Convention to workers in craft trades and small businesses who are not yet covered by the legislation and to all categories of persons to which it plans to extend the wage protection afforded by the Convention, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Convention.

I.  Non-payment or delayed payment of wages

1. In its comments, appended to the Government’s report, the workers’ organization, TÜRK-IŞ, raised the same objections to the application of the Convention as in its previous observations, in which it pointed out that employers frequently defer payment of workers’ wages and fringe benefits due to financial problems, while in local governments it is widespread practice to delay for months the payment of wages, overtime pay, bonus and other benefits.

2. The workers’ organization, DISK, repeats the observations it made last year which the Committee was unable to examine not having received the Government’s comments on them. DISK also reports practices such as failure to pay wages and late payment of wages, particularly in the public sector as well as in other sectors. The result is a drop in the value of the wages of those concerned in view of the high inflation rate in Turkey due to the effect of the economic crisis in the country. Furthermore, according to DISK, even the Government, which is supposed to monitor implementation of the Convention and control infringements, is using the economic crisis to gain acceptance of the late payment of the wage increases laid down in public sector collective agreements.

3. The Committee notes with concern that the Government provides no response in its report to either the previous or the latest observations by TÜRK-IŞ and DISK. The Committee recalls that, pursuant to Article 12 of the Convention, wages must be paid at regular intervals. In the Committee’s view, the right to be paid one’s wages on time is an essential right arising from the labour relationship, particularly in periods of crisis when workers and the members of their families rely entirely on income from their wages. The Committee therefore expresses the hope that the Government will take all appropriate steps to solve the problems of non-payment or late payment of wages as soon as possible. The Committee also asks the Government to provide in its next report up-to-date, precise and detailed information on the number of workers affected in the public service and the number and nature of the enterprises in which there are delays in the payment of wages.

II.  Deductions from wages for the payment of   social contributions and other taxes

4. In the observations it sent in 2000 and 2002 on the application of this Convention, TISK considers that the main factor hindering wage protection in Turkey is the excessive income tax burden, 50 per cent of gross wages being deducted for social contributions and other taxes. In TISK’s view, such a system is not compatible with the Convention’s objective of protecting wages creating, consequently, a need to reduce permanently - not just temporarily as prescribed by the Employment Promotion Act of April 2002 - the amount deducted from wages for social contributions and income tax.

5. The Government indicates in its report that with the tax legislation reform enacted on 22 July 1998, income tax rates which apply to wages and salaries have been lowered. It further indicates that the Employment Promotion Act grants temporary and partial tax deferment to employers as an incentive to employment.

6. The Committee understands that, under Act No. 4369, income tax rates range from 15 to 40 per cent depending on the level of earnings. It requests the Government to give particulars of the limits placed by the national legislation on all authorized deductions from wages, including sickness and unemployment insurance contributions, and to specify how workers are informed of the conditions under which and the extent to which deductions may be made from their wages, in accordance with Article 8  of the Convention.

III.  Application of the Convention in practice

7. In comments on the application of the Convention, DISK observes that breaches of the law on collective agreements go unpunished as there are no means of redress under which complaints may be filed in such cases. The TÜRK-IŞ, for its part, is of the view that the lack of effective penalties for non-payment or late payment of wages can only encourage practices of this kind.

8. In its observations of 2001 and 2002, TISK asks the Government to provide information on the operation of the inspection machinery, the nature and number of infringements recorded and the penalties imposed.

9. On this last point, the Government indicates that the inspections carried out with a view to ensuring regular payment of wages were continued during the period covered by the report; the number of enterprises fined for non-compliance, inter alia, for non-payment or late payment of wages, was 97 and the total amount of fines charged was approximately TRL300 million in the public sector and TRL5.3 billion in the private sector; and fines for breaches of the Labour Act rose by 56 per cent in 2001 as compared to the previous year.

10. The Committee notes the statistical information supplied by the Government. It points out, however, that according to the DISK, breaches of the obligation to pay wages on time occurred largely in the public sector. According to the information sent by the Government on the practical effect given to the Convention, however, only a small portion of the penalties imposed were in the public sector. The Committee recalls that under Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, the latter applies to all persons to whom wages are paid or payable regardless of whether they are employed in the public sector or the private sector. It accordingly asks the Government to indicate the measures taken to give full effect to the Convention both in law and in practice, inter alia, through effective supervision by the labour inspectorate in sectors where problems are noted. In this connection, the Committee observes that the Government’s report does not respond to the observation made by DISK to the effect that breaches of the law and collective agreements go unpunished because there are no means of redress allowing complaints to be filed in such circumstances. It requests the Government to send its comments on this point and recalls that the Convention intends that, where rights arising from the Convention are disregarded, the worker should have access to a court or other body established by law in order to secure their enforcement. The Committee trusts that the Government’s next report will contain precise and detailed information on the manner in which workers are enabled to assert their rights regarding the protection of their wages.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2003.]