Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Argentina (Ratification: 1956)

Articles 1 and 12 of the Convention. Definition of the term “wages” and regular payment of wages. The Committee notes that, in its reply to the observations made by the Federation of Professionals of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the Government merely provides some information on the legal status of the federation but does not respond to the complaints concerning the bonuses which are not classified as wages. The Committee notes that a similar question was raised by the Confederation of Argentinian Workers (CTA), whose latest observations have so far received no reply. Specifically, the question relates to section 103bis of the Act on labour contracts, which does not consider certain benefits as wages and has already given rise to contradictory court rulings. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to respond to the observations made by the Federation of Professionals of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and by the CTA, to send copies of any relevant court decisions and to keep the Office informed of the adoption of any draft legislation to partially repeal section 103bis of the Act on labour contracts.

Furthermore, the Committee would like to receive more detailed information on the other points raised in its previous comment, namely: (i) any changes in the situation concerning the payment of wages in the form of locally issued vouchers; (ii) the current situation regarding wage arrears or other difficulties in the regular payment of wages which would persist in certain sectors or provinces; (iii) the application of the Convention in practice, including, for example, official reports of the labour inspection services containing statistics on the number and nature of infringements reported with regard to wage protection.