Compliance and Enforcement of Minimum Wages: Towards building a framework

Minimum wages are a widely used instrument in the world to protect the incomes and purchasing power of low-paid-workers and their families. Minimum wages constitute an important tool for social justice at the national level and 90 percent of ILO Member States have put in place systems of minimum wage.[1] However, to be fully effective, this system needs to be accompanied by strong mechanisms of enforcement that can lead to compliance. This is not an easy task and there is experimentation around the world in trying to achieve this with various degrees of successes and shortcomings. This seminar will explore the cases of Australia, Brazil, Chile and South Africa in a comparative fashion to learn about different approaches and generate an exchange of knowledge and practices. The objective of this seminar is to take stock of approaches in compliance and enforcement with labour protection more broadly but focussing on the case of minimum wages to assist the government of Namibia in its recent adoption of a national minimum wage policy.[2]

The webinar is organized over two days to benefit from countries’ experiences and accommodate time zone differences.

Agenda

DAY 1 Tuesday, 25th February 2025

(10:00 am Windhoek and Pretoria time, 9:00 AM Geneva, 7:00 pm Sydney)

10:00 – 10:10 am | Introduction to the webinar and objectives, Guillaume Delautre (ILO) and Fabiola Mieres (ILO)

10:10 – 10:30 am | The journey of the Australia Fair Work Ombudsman and strategies to improve compliance with minimum wages

• Carey Trundle, Director, Community Engagement, Fair Work Ombudsman, Australia.
• Cletus Brown, Director, Enforcement, Fair Work Ombudsman, Australia.

10:30 – 10:40 am | Q&A on the Australian case

10:40 -11:00 am | The case of South Africa: Takeaways from the National Minimum Wage Evaluation

• Haroon Bhorat, Development Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
• Banjamin Stanwix, Senior Researcher, Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU), University of Cape Town

11:00 – 11:10 am | Q&A on the South African case

11:10 – 11:30 | Open Discussion with all participants and questions from the audience

11:30 Closing

DAY 2 Wednesday, 26th February 2025

(The workshop starts at 3:00pm Namibia time zone, 2:00pm Geneva, 10 am Brazil and Chile time zones)

3:00 -3:05 pm | Introduction, Guillaume Delautre (ILO) and Fabiola Mieres (ILO)

3:05-3:25 pm | The case of Brazil: From institutional configuration of the labour inspectorate to inspection practices

• Diego Folly de Andrade, Labour Inspector Division of International Affairs, Labor Inspection Secretariat, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Brazil.

3:25 -3:35 pm | Q&A on the Brazilian case

3:35 – 3:55 pm | The case of Chile: Setting up a national inspection policy: lessons, challenges and the way forward

• Daniel Riquelme, Deputy Chief of Inspection, Labour Directorate, Chile

3:55- 4:10 pm | Q&A on the case of Chile

4:10- 4:30 pm | Open Discussion with all participants and questions from the audience

4:30-4:35 pm | Closing

1] See ILO (2022) Global Wage Report 2022-23. The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, Geneva: ILO, p.15.

[2] See ILO (2024) How Namibia sets a historic national minimum wage, https://www.ilo.org/resource/article/how-namibia-sets-historic-national-minimum-wage