C99 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951

Convention concerning Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery in Agriculture

(Geneva, 28 June 1951)

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 23 AUGUST 1953

Depository : Director-General of the International Labour Organisation

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-fourth Session on 6 June 1951, and 

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to minimum wage fixing machinery in agriculture, which is the eighth item on the agenda of the session, and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,

adopts this twenty-eighth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one the following Convention, which may be cited as the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951:

Article 1

1. Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to create or maintain adequate machinery whereby minimum rates of wages can be fixed for workers employed in agricultural undertakings and related occupations.

2. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall be free to determine, after consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, to which undertakings, occupations and categories of persons the minimum wage fixing machinery referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be applied.

3. The competent authority may exclude from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Convention categories of persons whose conditions of employment render such provisions inapplicable to them, such as members of the farmer's family employed by him.

Article 2

1. National laws or regulations, collective agreements or arbitration awards may authorise the partial payment of minimum wages in the form of allowances in kind in cases in which payment in the form of such allowances is customary or desirable.

2. In cases in which partial payment of minimum wages in the form of allowances in kind is authorised, appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that—

(a) such allowances are appropriate for the personal use and benefit of the worker and his family; and

(b) the value attributed to such allowances is fair and reasonable.

Article 3

1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall be free to decide, subject to the conditions stated in the following paragraphs, the nature and form of the minimum wage fixing machinery, and the methods to be followed in its operation.

2. Before a decision is taken there shall be full preliminary consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, and with any other persons specially qualified by their trade or functions whom the competent authority deems it useful to consult.

3. The employers and workers concerned shall take part in the operation of the minimum wage fixing machinery, or be consulted or have the right to be heard, in such manner and to such extent as may be determined by national laws or regulations but in any case on a basis of complete equality.

4. Minimum rates of wages which have been fixed shall be binding on the employers and workers concerned so as not to be subject to abatement.

5. The competent authority may permit exceptions to the minimum wage rates in individual cases, where necessary, to prevent curtailment of the opportunities of employment of physically or mentally handicapped workers.

Article 4

1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the employers and workers concerned are informed of the minimum rates of wages in force and that wages are not paid at less than these rates in cases where they are applicable; these measures shall include such provision for supervision, inspection, and sanctions as may be necessary and appropriate to the conditions obtaining in agriculture in the country concerned.

2. A worker to whom the minimum rates are applicable and who has been paid wages at less than these rates shall be entitled to recover, by judicial or other appropriate proceedings, the amount by which he has been underpaid, subject to such limitation of time as may be determined by national laws or regulations.

Article 5

Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall communicate annually to the International Labour Office a general statement indicating the methods and the results of the application of the machinery and, in summary form, the occupations and approximate numbers of workers covered, the minimum rates of wages fixed, and the more important of the other conditions, if any, established relevant to the minimum rates.

Article 6

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 7

1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.

2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

Article 8

1. Declarations communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation shall indicate –

a) the territories in respect of which the Member concerned undertakes that the provisions of the Convention shall be applied without modification;

b) the territories in respect of which it undertakes that the provisions of the Convention shall be applied subject to modifications, together with details of the said modifications;

c) the territories in respect of which the Convention is inapplicable and in such cases the grounds on which it is inapplicable;

d) the territories in respect of which it reserves its decision pending further consideration of the position.

2. The undertakings referred to in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be deemed to be an integral part of the ratification and shall have the force of ratification.

3. Any Member may at any time by a subsequent declaration cancel in whole or in part any reservation made in its original declaration in virtue of subparagraph (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 1 of this Article.

4. Any Member may, at any time at which the Convention is subject to denunciation in accordance with the provisions of Article 10, communicate to the Director-General a declaration modifying in any other respect the terms of any former declaration and stating the present position in respect of such territories as it may specify.

Article 9

1. Declarations communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office in accordance with paragraph 4 or 5 of Article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation shall indicate whether the provisions of the Convention will be applied in the territory concerned without modification or subject to modifications; when the declaration indicates that the provisions of the Convention will be applied subject to modifications, it shall give details of the said modifications.

2. The Member, Members or international authority concerned may at any time by a subsequent declaration renounce in whole or in part the right to have recourse to any modification indicated in any former declaration.

3. The Member, Members or international authority concerned may, at any time at which this Convention is subject to denunciation in accordance with the provisions of Article 10, communicate to the Director-General a declaration modifying in any other respect the terms of any former declaration and stating the present position in respect of the application of the Convention.

Article 10

1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

Article 11

1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications, declarations and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.

2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.

Article 12

The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications, declarations and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding articles.

Article 13

At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.

Article 14

1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides—

a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 10 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force;

b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members.

2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.

Article 15

The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.