Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

Article 12, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Payment of wages at regular intervals. The Committee notes the observations made by the General Union of Cameroon Workers (UGTC) concerning specific problems of accumulated wage arrears and the protection of workers’ claims following the privatization of certain enterprises. More concretely, the UGTC indicates that the workers of the companies LABOGENIE and MATGENIE and those employed by the Chamber of Agriculture, Fishing and Stock Raising have not received their wages for several months while the pay claims of the workers of CAMPOST, CAMTEL and FEICOM, which are being wound up, have not been settled. The Committee also notes similar observations made by the General Confederation of Labour – Liberty of Cameroon (CGTL) according to which wage arrears have been accumulated for more than ten years. In its reply, the Government merely states that it currently examines the settlement of any wage debts owed to former employees of state enterprises and that it has established for this purpose a special commission presided by the Finance Minister. The Committee asks the Government to provide full particulars on the operation and the results obtained by that commission. It also hopes that the Government will be in a position to supply in its next report up to date information on the nature and extent of any persistent difficulties concerning the timely payment of wages, especially in the public sector, and the measures or initiatives taken in order to settle all outstanding payments and prevent the recurrence of similar problems in the future. Recalling that the Government has still to reply to previous comments in connection with the wage arrears situation in the education sector, the Committee would appreciate receiving detailed information on the total amount of wage arrears, the sectors of economic activity and number of workers affected, the average delay in the payment of wages and any negotiated timetable for the reimbursement of the wage debt in question.