Generate/ERILOGO1.gif About ERI Disclaimer

Guinea - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Conakry

 

CLIMATE

Guinea’s climate is generally hot and humid with monsoonal-type rainy season from June to November with southwesterly winds; and a dry season from December to May with northeasterly harmattan winds.

 

LANGUAGES

French (official), and each ethnic group has its own language.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Guinea’s legal system is based on French civil law system, customary law, and decree with its legal codes currently being revised. Guinea has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Guinean Franc (1 USD = 2,043.80 GNF as of May 1, 2002).

 

GUINEA - COST-OF-LIVING

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

 

GUINEA - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U. S. Embassy at Conakry

Rue KA 038

B.P. 603

Conakry, Guinea

Telephone: [224] 41-15-20

Fax: [224] 41-15-22

 

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

2112 Leroy Place N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 483-9420

Fax: (202) 483-8688

 

GUINEA - HOLIDAYS

 

GUINEA – LEAVE

Annual Leave: Minimum 24 days of paid leave each year.

 

Maternity Leave: 14 weeks – 100% of pay (paid by employer 50% and social security 50%).

 

GUINEA - MINIMUM AGE

According to the Labor Code, the minimum age for employment is 16 years. Apprentices may start to work at 14 years of age. Workers and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to work at night, for more than 12 consecutive hours, or on Sundays.

 

The Labor Code also stipulates that the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs must maintain a list of occupations in which women and youth under the age of 18 cannot be employed.

 

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

 

GUINEA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

There is no minimum wage.

 

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

 

GUINEA - REMUNERATION

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

 

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

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for the right of employees to form independent labor unions and prohibits discrimination based on union affiliation. Approximately 160,000 workers were reported as unionized, although inadequate labor statistics make it difficult to estimate the exact percentage of workers in unions. Approximately 52,000 are government workers and are automatically members of the government union. The rest are engaged in private, mixed, and informal sectors. The largest independent union, Union Syndicale des Travailleurs de Guinee (USTG), claims 64,000 members, 18,000 of whom are women.

 

The Labor Code states that all workers, except military and paramilitary personnel, have the right to create and participate in organizations that defend and develop their individual and collective rights as workers. The Labor Code requires elected worker representatives for any enterprise employing 25 or more salaried workers.

 

There are several trade unions and labor confederations; the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) remains the largest confederation. CNTG is an umbrella organization for 16 individual unions of government employees, and each of the 16 individual unions is tied to a government ministry. The CNTG is funded indirectly by the Government, although dissident members seek to increase the Confederation's freedom from government control. Independent unions and confederations have gained popularity, such as the Free Union of Teachers and Researchers of Guinea, the Professional Union Federation for Education, and the National Organization for Free Trade Unions of Guinea. Several dissident groups within the CNTG left the Confederation in 1996 citing corruption among its leadership. These groups joined with some independent unions to form the United Syndicates of Guinean Workers (USTG).

 

The Labor Code grants salaried workers, including public sector civilian employees, the right to strike 10 days after their representative union makes known its intention to strike. It prohibits strikes in sectors providing "essential services," which include hospitals, radio and television, army, and police, communications, and transport services.

 

Strikes are met with intimidation from security forces and, as a result, often do not make it out of the organizational stage. In July the Government did not interfere in a 1-day strike by bank and insurance workers, who were protesting a court decision. In a 1999 speech to workers at the Coyah water plant, President Conte spoke of the willingness of many unemployed workers to take the places of those who strike.

 

The Government continues to subsidize CNTG representatives to the International Labor Organization (ILO) conferences, by paying their travel and lodging expenses. Other independent unions must provide their own funding to attend ILO conferences.

 

Unions affiliate freely with international labor groups.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

Under the Labor Code, representative workers' unions or union groups may organize in the workplace and negotiate with employers or employer organizations. The law protects the right to bargain collectively concerning wages and salaries without government interference. Work rules and work hours are established by the employer in consultation with union delegates. The Code also prohibits antiunion discrimination. Union delegates represent individual and collective claims and grievances with management. However, at regional and prefecture levels, unionized labor faces stiff opposition from government officials. Union officials are selected on the basis of nepotism and patronage, rather than through a hierarchy of competence; these individuals are not sensitized to the rights of workers, and often view unions as an enemy of the Government. As a result, union activities in the interior of the country face harassment and interference from many governors and prefects. Union activities in Conakry face less harassment and interference. Individual workers threatened with dismissal or other sanctions have the right to a hearing before management with a union representative present and, if necessary, to take the complaint to the Conakry Labor Court, which convenes weekly to hear such cases. In the interior, civil courts hear labor cases.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Labor Code specifically forbids forced or compulsory labor, including forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were reports that women and girls were trafficked for forced labor and the sex trade.

 

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

 

According to the Labor Code, the minimum age for employment is 16 years. Apprentices may start to work at 14 years of age. Workers and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to work at night, for more than 12 consecutive hours, or on Sundays. The Labor Code also stipulates that the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs must maintain a list of occupations in which women and youth under the age of 18 cannot be employed. In practice enforcement by ministry inspectors is limited to large firms in the modern sector of the economy. In 1997 the Ministry of Planning estimated that in rural areas, approximately 66 percent of children between the ages of 7 and 14 were employed; the rate jumped to 91 percent in the 15 to 19 age group. In urban areas, approximately 19 percent of children between the ages of 7 and 14 were employed; the rate jumped to 50 percent for children between the ages of 15 and 19. Overall approximately 48 percent of children under age 15 were employed, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the total working population and 26 percent of agricultural workers. Child labor in factories is not a prevalent problem because of the low level of manufacturing. Working children are found mostly in the informal sector areas of subsistence farming, petty commerce, and small-scale mining. Girls as young as age 14 engage in prostitution. The Government has spoken out against child labor, but lacks the resources, enforcement mechanism, and the legislative will to combat the problem. As a result, child laborers do not have access to education or health care; they suffer from chronic malnutrition, traumatic stress, and depression.

 

Many young Muslims are sent to live with a Koranic master; in return for instruction in Arabic, Islam, the Koran, the children work for the teacher. Children often are sent from rural areas to Conakry to live with family members while they attend school. However, if the host family is unwilling or unable to pay school fees, the children sell water or shine shoes on the streets, and the host family takes the money in exchange for their room and board.

 

In September the Government ratified the ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. The worst forms of child labor can be found in the artisanal mining sector where children haul granite and sand for little or no money.

 

The Government prohibits forced and bonded child labor; however, there were reports that girls were trafficked.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Labor Code provides for the establishment by decree of a minimum hourly wage; however, the Government promotes no standard wage. Prevailing wages often were inadequate to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. There also are provisions in the code for overtime and night wages, which are fixed percentages of the regular wage.

 

According to the Labor Code, regular work is not to exceed 10-hour days or 48-hour weeks, and there is to be a period of at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week, usually on Sunday. Every salaried worker has the legal right to an annual paid vacation, accumulated at the rate of at least 2 workdays per month of work. In practice the authorities enforce these rules only in the relatively small modern urban sector.

 

The Labor Code contains provisions of a general nature regarding occupational safety and health, but the Government has not elaborated a set of practical workplace health and safety standards. Moreover, it has not issued any of the ministerial orders laying out the specific requirements for certain occupations and for certain methods of work that are called for in the Labor Code. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for enforcing labor standards, and its inspectors are empowered to suspend work immediately in situations hazardous to health; however, enforcement remained more a goal than a reality. Labor inspectors acknowledge that they cannot cover even Conakry, much less the entire country, with their small staff and meager budget.

 

Under the Labor Code, workers have the right to refuse to work under unsafe conditions without penalty. Nevertheless, many workers fear retaliation should they refuse to work under unsafe conditions. Employees in high-risk professions, such as night guards, drivers, and police, have protested poor working conditions without result. Sodefa, a joint venture of the Guinean and Chinese Governments, was criticized for inhuman working conditions, but when workers tried to protest in 2000, security forces forcibly dispersed them; there were no reports of severe injuries or deaths.

 

The law applies to all workers in the country, regardless of nationality; however, the law does not define whether it applies to persons working in the country illegally.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law prohibits trafficking in persons and carries a penalty of 5 to 10 years imprisonment and confiscation of any money or property received as a result of trafficking activities; however, some NGO's report that women and children are trafficked within the country, as well as internationally, for the sex trade and illegal labor. Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain, because victims do not report the crime due to fear for their personal safety.

 

Trafficking in persons from rural areas to urban centers is increasingly recognized as a problem in the country. Many young Muslims are sent to live with a Koranic master; in return for instruction in Arabic, Islam, the Koran, the children work for the teacher. Children often are sent from rural areas to Conakry to live with family members while they attend school. However, if the host family is unwilling or unable to pay school fees, the children sell water or shine shoes on the streets, and the host family takes the money in exchange for their room and board.

 

GUINEA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

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

 

GUINEA - STANDARD WORKWEEK

According to the Labor Code, regular work is not to exceed 10-hour days or 48-hour weeks, and there is to be a period of at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week, usually on Sunday.

 

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