Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2004, publiée 93ème session CIT (2005)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and wishes to draw its attention to the following points.

Article 1, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Convention. Further to its previous comments on the exclusion of certain categories of workers from the coverage of the minimum wage legislation, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that by Act No. 1715 of 18 October 1996 on agrarian reform, agricultural wage workers have come within the scope of application of the General Labour Act and that a Supreme Decree, which is currently in the process of adoption, is expected to regulate agricultural wage work and guarantee the general application of the national minimum wage to those workers. The Committee recalls, however, that in some earlier reports the Government had stated that only sugar cane and cotton workers were not excluded from the minimum wage system and that efforts were being made to extend its application to rubber, forestry and chestnut workers. The Committee therefore requests the Government to clarify the situation in this regard, and to transmit a copy of the Decree on agricultural wage workers as soon as it is formally adopted.

Article 3. The Committee notes that the minimum wage was last revised in 2003 by Supreme Decree No. 27048 and is presently fixed at 440 bolivianos. According to the information supplied by the Government, this amount is renegotiated every year and increases proportionately to the evolution of the consumer price index. The Government adds that the national minimum wage is used for the calculation of various pay supplements and social security benefits, for instance seniority bonus and maternity allowance, and therefore has an impact on the income of most workers. In this connection, the Committee reminds the Government that the primary function of the minimum wage system envisaged in the Convention is to serve as a measure of social protection and to overcome poverty by ensuring decent minimum levels of wages especially for the low-paid, unskilled workers. Therefore, minimum rates of pay that represent only a fraction of the real needs of workers and their families, whatever their subsidiary importance in calculating certain benefits may be, can hardly fit the concept and the rationale of a minimum wage as this arises from the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures it intends to take to ensure that the national minimum wage fulfils a meaningful role in social policy, which implies that it should not be allowed to fall below a socially acceptable "subsistence level" and that it should maintain its purchasing power in relation to a basic basket of essential consumer goods.

Article 4, paragraph 2. The Committee has been requesting the Government for many years to provide tangible evidence of full consultations held with the social partners with respect to fixing or readjusting minimum wage rates, as required by the provisions of the Convention. In its reply, the Government indicates that no consultations with the Bolivian Labour Federation (COB) were possible this year due to persistent claims of that organization linked to the participation of the President of the Republic in these consultations. However, negotiations were held with different organizations at the branch level resulting in wage increases of 3 per cent in several sectors. As regards discussions on minimum wages with employers’ representatives, the Government states that it cannot enter into any such discussions with the Confederation of Private Employers of Bolivia (CEPB) since article 8 of the Statutes of this organization prevents it from negotiating matters related to wages. While taking due note of these indications, the Committee wishes to emphasize once again the fundamental character of the principle of full consultation of the social partners at all stages of the minimum wage fixing procedure. According to the letter and the spirit of the Convention, the process of consultation must precede any decision-making and must be effective, that is to say it must afford the social partners a genuine opportunity to express their views and have some influence on the decisions pertaining to the matters that are the subject of consultation. While recalling that "consultation" should be kept distinct from "co-determination" or mere "information", the Committee considers that the Government is under the obligation to create and maintain conditions permitting the full consultation and direct participation of the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations in all circumstances, and therefore urges the Government to take appropriate action to ensure that the requirement for meaningful consultations set forth in this Article of the Convention is effectively applied, preferably in a well-defined, commonly agreed and institutionalized form. It accordingly asks the Government to keep it informed of any developments concerning the establishment of the National Council on Labour Relations.

Article 5 and Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that the Government intends to amend section 121 of the General Labour Act to provide for the periodic readjustment of the amount of fine to be imposed in the event of infringement of the minimum wage rates in force. The Committee would be grateful to the Government for continuing to supply all available information on the application of the Convention in practice.