Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Sri Lanka (Ratification: 1975)

Articles 1 and 4 of the Convention. Minimum wage system – full consultation with employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that in 2008, wage boards increased minimum wage levels by 15 per cent in 40 different trades while in 2010 they further raised the minimum wages by 20 per cent in 39 trades. It also notes that the wage boards for the tobacco trade, the cigar manufacturing trade, the dock harbour and port transport trade, the cinnamon trade and the plumingo trade were reactivated in 2008 by appointing new employers’ and workers’ representatives, and that new wage boards for the flower, ornamental plants, vegetables and fruits growing and export trade are in the process of being established.

The Committee notes, however, that there is currently no mechanism to determine minimum wage rates for domestic workers and fishers. With respect to the plantation sector, the Committee notes the Government’s indications that minimum wages are mostly regulated through collective agreements, such as collective agreement No. 22 of 2011 which was concluded for tea and rubber plantations between the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC), the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union (LJEWU) and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC).

Moreover, the Committee notes the Government’s clarification that there is currently no legislation providing for a national minimum wage, and that the matter continues to be under consideration by the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide up-to-date information on the operation of the minimum wage system, including copies of all relevant wage board ordinances and collective agreements, and also to indicate any progress in determining minimum pay rates for those categories of workers not yet covered. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to indicate any further developments as regards the possible establishment of a national minimum wage as well as any measures taken to follow up on the findings of the ILO technical assistance mission of May 2007.

Finally, the Committee notes the new communication of the LJEWU, dated 31 May 2012, which essentially reproduces comments made previously concerning the reactivation of the remuneration tribunals, the absence of full consultations with workers’ organizations, especially as regards the minimum wage coverage of private sector workers, and the need to revise the national minimum monthly wage to reflect the constantly rising cost of living. The Committee requests the Government to transmit any specific comments it may wish to make in reply to the observations of the LJEWU which were transmitted in August 2007 and May 2012.