Decent Wages Central America

Duration: 1-10-2011 till 30-09-2012

Funded by: CNV, Dutch Christian Confederation of Trade Unions

Partners: CGT Colombia, CMTC Costa Rica, CATS El Salvador, CGT Honduras,

CTN Nicaragua.

Project management: Wage Indicator Foundation, Paulien Osse

The project proposal Decent Wage Latin America, falls within the scope of the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO. This agenda was proclaimed as the ILO contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, in particular cutting poverty down by 50 percent. The position taken by the ILO is that minimum wages are an integral part of decent working conditions.

The binary focus on minimum wages and compliance with Labour Law in this project proposal reflects the erosion of wage levels, not just in Latin America, but worldwide.

In this project the trade union partners of CNV in the Latin American region are assisted in  coping with these twin problems of structural underpayment and weak law enforcement of Decent Work obligations. Trade union partners selected are:

• CGT Colombia

• CMTC Costa Rica

• CATS El Salvador

• CGT Honduras

• CTN Nicaragua.

Beneficiaries of the project are:

• trade union rank and file;

• workers in the sectors and occupations selected by trade unions;

• social partners;

• labour inspectorates;

• the public at large.

Throughout the project’s design and implementation a gender angle is honoured, as women are predominant amongst the region’s working poor.

The strategy for achieving Decent Wages, developed for this project, is designed to:

1.  collect and share with trade unions relevant data on minimum wage and other selected Decent Work items;

2.  support awareness raising on minimum wage and the Decent Work items selected and enhance engagement amongst stakeholders in the labour market;

3.  contribute to improved compliance with the labour law through a variety of means, depending on the countries´ labour market, trade union preferences and capacity.

While Decent Wage Latin America gets underway, an international support team, directed by Wage Indicator Foundation, shares know how of the survey system, analysis of the wage data, websites, tools and their marketing with the trade union partners.