Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1952)

Article 1 of the Convention. Definition of wages. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the observations made by the Indigenous and Rural Workers’ Trade Union Movement of Guatemala (MSICG) alleging widespread contractual practices aimed at disguising an employment relationship or concealing that the amounts paid to workers in exchange for their work are actually wages, with the consequent loss of protection of wages. The Committee notes that the Government has not responded to these general allegations. In this context, the Committee wishes to recall that the purpose of Article 1 of the Convention is to guarantee that the real earnings of workers, however termed or reckoned, are fully protected under national law, and that the obligations deriving from the Convention with respect to the protection of workers’ wages cannot be bypassed by mere terminological subterfuges, but require the extended and bona fide coverage by national legislation of labour remuneration whatever form it takes (see General Survey on protection of wages, 2003, paragraph 64).

Article 3. Payment of wages in legal tender. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to supply more detailed information on the application in practice of section 90(3) of the Labour Code, which provides that the prohibition of the payment of wages in full or in part in the form of goods, vouchers or coupons, or in any other form alleged to represent legal tender, does not include the provision of vouchers, coupons or any other similar means of paying wages, provided that at the end of each pay period the employer exchanges these tokens for the exact equivalent in legal currency. While noting the absence of information on this point in the Government’s report, the Committee recalls that, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention, wages payable in money shall be paid only in legal tender, and payment in the form of promissory notes, vouchers or coupons, or in any other form alleged to represent legal tender, shall be prohibited. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the application in practice of the above provision of the Labour Code in light of the requirements of this Article of the Convention.

Article 8. Deductions from wages in the form of fines. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the observations made by the Confederation of Workers of Guatemala (CGTG), which allege that the penalties imposed on public employees in the form of wage deductions by the General Comptroller are of a confiscatory nature because they do not take into account the employee’s capacity to pay. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its reply that in Case No. 2810-2014 of the Constitutional Court the confiscatory nature of such fines was recognized and it was therefore decided to amend certain subsections of section 39 of the Basic Act on the Office of the Comptroller, which establish the salary percentages used as a basis for calculating the amounts of fines.