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Burundi - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Bujumbura            

 

CLIMATE

Equatorial climate; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m. Average annual rainfall is about 150 cm. The wet seasons are from February to May and September to November, and dry seasons are from June to August and December to January.

 

LANGUAGES

Kirundi (official), French (official), and Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Burundi’s legal system is based on German and Belgian civil codes and customary law. Burundi has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Burundi Franc (1 USD = 894.540 BIF as of April 15, 2002).

 

BURUNDI - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

BURUNDI - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U. S. Embassy at Bujumbura

B.P. 1720

Avenue des Etats-Unis

Bujumbura, Burundi

Telephone: [257] 22-34-54

Fax: [257] 22-29-26

 

Embassy of the Republic of Burundi at Washington D.C.

2233 Wisconsin Avenue N.W., Suite 212

Washington D.C. 20007

Telephone: (202) 342-2574

Fax: (202) 342-2578

 

BURUNDI - HOLIDAYS

 

BURUNDI - LEAVE

Maternity Leave: 12 weeks – 50% of pay (paid by employer).

 

BURUNDI - MINIMUM AGE

The Labor Code states that children cannot be employed by "an enterprise" even as apprentices, although it also states that they may undertake occasional work that does not damage their health or interfere with their schooling. In practice children under the age of 16 in rural areas do heavy manual labor in the daytime during the school year.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Burundi – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BURUNDI - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The formal minimum wage for unskilled workers is 160 francs per day (approximately $0.21) in the cities Bujumbura and Gitega and 105 francs (approximately $0.14) in the rest of the country, with a graduated scale for greater skill levels.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Burundi – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BURUNDI - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

BURUNDI - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Labor Code protects the rights of workers to form unions; however, the army, Gendarmerie, and foreigners working in the public sector are prohibited from union participation. Most union workers are urban civil servants. Tutsis dominate the formal sector of the economy and the unions. According to the Confederation of Free Unions of Burundi (CSB), an umbrella trade union, 60 percent of the 80,000 formal private sector employees are unionized. All employees in the public sector, except those prohibited by law, are unionized.

 

Since gaining independence from the Government in 1992, the CSB has been dependent financially on a system of checkoffs, or voluntary contributions, as are local unions. In 1995 a rival trade union, COSYBU, was founded. The Government interfered in the COSYBU's selection process by refusing to recognize union leaders selected by members in union congresses.

 

The Labor Code permits the formation of additional unions or confederations outside the CSB. When settling disputes in which more than one labor union is represented, the law stipulates that the Minister of Labor must choose the union representing the greatest number of workers to participate in the negotiations.

 

The Labor Code provides workers with a restricted right to strike. The restrictions on the right to strike and to lock out include: All other peaceful means of resolution must be exhausted prior to the strike action; negotiations must continue during the action, mediated by a mutually agreed upon party or by the Government; and 6 days' notice must be given. The Ministry of Labor determines if strike criteria have been met. The law prohibits retribution against workers participating in a legal strike.

 

In January the employees of the state-owned sugar company went on strike after they did not receive a pay raise promised by President Buyoya during his visit to the factory. The strike was declared illegal, and workers were threatened with dismissal. The workers did not receive a pay raise; however, they did receive some back pay from 2000.

 

Employees of Onatel, the country's state-owned telephone company, went on strike several times in August and September. The Government intervened and the second vice president negotiated a resolution. The resolution included replacement of some management and increased labor participation in the decision-making process. The Government had threatened to fire striking employees and to withhold salary payments; however, no action was taken on these threats.

 

Government workers for the Ministries of Justice, Education, and Health, and the social security agency went on strike at various times during the year because of low salaries. The Government did not recognize the legitimacy of any of these strikes, and none was successful. In response to the strikes at the Ministry of Justice and Education, the Government agreed to examine the grievances of Justice employees and to provide nonmonetary compensation through low-interest housing loans to Education Ministry employees.

 

Unlike in the previous year, there were no arrests of union leaders or members.

 

COSYBU president Pierre-Claver Hajavandi and his brother Raphael Horumpende, who were arrested in 2000 and accused respectively of organizing a general strike and involvement in a grenade attack, were released during the year. However, on May 1, the Government prevented Hajavandi from giving the traditional Labor Day address, and the Government held elections for a new president of COSYBU. Hajavandi was re-elected; however, the Government declared the elections illegal and prevented him from representing COSYBU at the ILO annual conference. The Transitional Government, which was inaugurated in November, recognized Hajavandi as COSYBU president.

 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has cited the Government for several violations of ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association. The Committee of Experts has expressed specific concern about the denial of trade union rights for public servants and juveniles, the election of trade union leaders, and the rights of unions to organize, administer activities, and defend the interests of their members.

 

Unions are able to affiliate with international organizations.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The Labor Code recognizes the right to collective bargaining, formerly acknowledged only by ordinance. Since most workers are civil servants, government entities are involved in almost every phase of labor negotiations. Both COSYBU and the CSB represented labor in collective bargaining negotiations in cooperation with individual labor unions during the year.

 

Public sector wages are set in fixed scales in individual contracts and are not affected by collective bargaining. In the private sector, wage scales also exist, but individual contract negotiation is possible.

 

The Labor Code gives the Labor Court jurisdiction over all labor dispute cases, including those involving public employees. Negotiations are conducted largely under the supervision of the tripartite National Labor Council, the Government's highest consultative authority on labor issues. The Council represents government, labor, and management, and is presided over and regulated by the Minister of Labor.

 

The Labor Code prohibits employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against a worker because of union affiliation or activity. This right is upheld in practice.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, soldiers guarding IDP sites and soldiers at military posts often require persons to cook, fetch water, chop wood, work in the fields of military leaders, and perform other chores without compensation. The military also require persons to perform regular night watches.

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were unconfirmed reports that children continued to serve in the armed forces and that the Government continued to recruit child soldiers to perform occasional tasks, such as carrying supplies. There were credible reports that Guardians of the Peace recruited children during the year to carry out routine police duties such as maintaining order in public places.

 

Rebel groups also force the rural population to perform uncompensated labor, including the transport of rebel supplies and weapons. Rebels also recruit and use children for labor. On November 6 and 9, FDD rebel forces abducted primary school students to serve as soldiers. There were no statistics on the number of child soldiers in the country.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The Labor Code states that children cannot be employed by "an enterprise" even as apprentices, although it also states that they may undertake occasional work that does not damage their health or interfere with their schooling. In practice children under the age of 16 in rural areas do heavy manual labor in the daytime during the school year. The World Bank reported that approximately 48 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 years worked in 1999.

 

The minimum age for military service is 18, but observers believe that there are some children below that age in the military. There also were credible reports that the Guardians of the Peace recruited children to provide a quasi-police presence in public places such as markets; some of these children reportedly were sent to the front lines. Rebel groups also recruit children as soldiers.

 

Children are prohibited legally from working at night, although many do so in the informal sector. Most of the population lives by subsistence agriculture, and children are obliged by custom and economic necessity to participate in subsistence agriculture, family-based enterprises, and the informal sector.

 

Teenage prostitution is a problem.

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were reports that it occurred.

 

The country has not ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The formal minimum wage for unskilled workers is $0.21 (160 francs) per day in the cities Bujumbura and Gitega and $0.14 (105 francs) in the rest of the country, with a graduated scale for greater skill levels. This amount does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, and most families rely on second incomes and subsistence agriculture to supplement their earnings.

 

Unionized employees, particularly in urban areas, generally earn significantly more than the minimum wage. Public sector wages are set by agreement between the Government and either the CSB or COSYBU. The government wage scale has remained unchanged since 1992, but allowances, such as the one for housing, have risen.

 

The Labor Code stipulates an 8-hour workday and a 40-hour workweek, except in cases where workers are involved in activities related to national security. Supplements must be paid for overtime.

 

The Labor Code establishes health and safety standards that require an employer to provide a safe workplace and assigns enforcement responsibility to the Minister of Labor. However, the Ministry does not enforce the code effectively. Health and safety articles in the Labor Code do not address directly workers' rights to remove themselves from dangerous tasks.

 

Foreign workers are protected by law and are not subject to discrimination; however, they are prohibited from union participation.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law does not prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

 

 

BURUNDI - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

BURUNDI - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The Labor Code stipulates an 8-hour workday and a 40-hour workweek, except in cases where workers are involved in activities related to national security. Supplements must be paid for overtime.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Burundi – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)