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

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its previous comments.

With regard to the accumulated wage arrears owing to state employees, the Committee notes from the Government’s report that the wage debt is estimated at 187.6 billion CFA which corresponds to the wage bill of 23 months. The Government states that in accordance with the Protocol of Agreement of 9 August 2003, the settlement of outstanding payments should commence in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Government adds that since 2000 all steps have been taken to prevent the further deterioration of the situation and that currently state employees receive their salaries regularly. While noting the extent and seriousness of the ongoing wage crisis, the Committee requests the Government to transmit a copy of the above referenced Protocol of Agreement and to supply in its next report detailed information on the number of workers affected, the amount of arrears settled according to the terms of that Protocol and the time schedule for the repayment of the sums remaining due. The Committee urges the Government to accelerate its efforts to put an end to the phenomenon of delayed payment or non-payment of wages and wishes to refer in this connection to paragraph 355 of its 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages in which it pointed out that the quintessence of wage protection is the assurance of a periodic payment allowing the worker to organize his everyday life with a reasonable degree of certainty and security whereas the delayed payment of wages or the accumulation of wage debts clearly contravene the letter and the spirit of the Convention and render the application of most of its other provisions simply meaningless.

With respect to the payment of the sums due to the former workers of the Ogoué Mining Company (COMILOG) to which the Committee has been drawing attention for several years, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the question has been discussed with the Government of Gabon at Libreville in July 2003. More concretely, the Government refers to a Protocol of Agreement signed on 19 July 2003 according to which COMILOG accepted to pay a lump sum of 1.2 billion CFA in final settlement of all workers’ claims and ceded to the Government of the Republic of the Congo the proprietary rights to all its movable and immovable assets in the country. The Government further states that the reimbursement of the amounts due to the former workers of COMILOG can thus be effected once the practical arrangements for such payment have been settled. The Committee notes the positive developments with regard to the recovery by the former workers of COMILOG of all the amounts due to them some ten years after the matter was first brought to the knowledge of the International Labour Office. In this regard, the Committee wishes to reiterate, as it observed in paragraph 398 of the abovementioned General Survey, that the principle of the regular payment of wages, set out in Article 12 of the Convention, finds its full expression not only in the periodicity of wage payments, as may be regulated by national laws and regulations or collective agreements, but also in the complementary obligation to settle swiftly and in full all outstanding payments upon the termination of the contract of employment. The Committee therefore asks the Government to speed up and closely monitor the process of settling the outstanding payments to the workers concerned and to supply in its next report full particulars on the progress made in this regard. The Committee would also appreciate receiving a copy of the Protocol of Agreement of 19 July 2003.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2005.]