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Niger - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Niamey

 

CLIMATE

Desert climate; mostly hot, dry, and dusty; tropical climate in the extreme south.

 

LANGUAGES

French (official), Hausa, and Djerma.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Niger’s legal system is based on French civil law system and customary law. Niger has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Communaute Financiere Africaine Franc (1 USD = 722.790 XOF as of May 15, 2002).

Note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States.

 

NIGER - COST-OF-LIVING

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

 

NIGER - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Niamey

Rue Des Ambassades

Niamey, Niger

B.P. 11.201

Niamey, Niger

Telephone: (227) 72-26-61

Fax: (227) 73-31-67

http://usembassy.state.gov/niamey/

 

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

2204 R Street N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 483-4224

Fax: (202) 483-3169

http://www.nigerembassyusa.org

 

NIGER - HOLIDAYS

 

NIGER - LEAVE

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

 

NIGER - MINIMUM AGE

Children under the age of 14 must obtain special authorization to work, and those 14 to 18 years of age were limited to a maximum of 4 1/2 hours per day and certain types of employment so schooling may continue.

 

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

 

NIGER - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The lowest minimum wage is 24,565 CFA francs per month (approximately $33). Additional salary is granted for each family member and for such working conditions as night shifts and required travel, at 18,625 CFA francs per month (approximately $25).

 

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

 

NIGER - REMUNERATION

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

 

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

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides formal recognition of workers' right to establish and join trade unions; however, more than 95 percent of the work force was employed in the nonunionized subsistence agricultural and small trading sectors.

 

The National Union of Nigerien Workers (USTN), a federation consisting of 38 unions, represents the majority of salary earners; most are government employees, such as civil servants, teachers, and employees in state-owned corporations. The USTN and affiliated National Union of Nigerien Teachers (SNEN) professed political autonomy, but they have informal ties to political parties. There were several breakaway union confederations and independent teachers' and magistrates' unions. On January 5, breakaway members of the USTN founded the Confederation of Forces of Democratic Workers (CFDT). The customs workers union, which the Government dissolved in 1997, was authorized to resume operations during the year; however, the police union remained suspended.

 

The Constitution provides for the right to strike, except for security forces and police. The law specifies that labor must give notice and begin negotiations before work is stopped; public workers must maintain a minimum level of service during a strike; the Government can requisition workers to provide minimum service; and striking public sector workers may not be paid for the time they are on strike. The latter condition already prevailed in the private sector. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has criticized a 1996 legal order that says striking state employees can be requisitioned in exceptional cases arising as a result of the need to preserve the general interest.

 

In October telecommunications workers went on strike to protest the planned partial privatization of SONITEL.

 

Unlike in the previous year, there were no strikes or work stoppages by judiciary, communications, health care, and education workers due to government inability to pay workers' salaries.

 

In October 2000, teachers went on strike for 4 weeks. In November 2000, the judge ordered the teachers to stop their "illegal and savage" strike and return to work. The teachers ended their strike in November 2000 and resumed normal work. The Government agreed to resume annual salary increases and pay teachers 2 months of backpay in each of the next 3 years; a number of teachers also accepted a "land for wage arrears" offer.

 

The USTN is a member of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity and is affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; it receives assistance from some international unions. Individual unions such as the teachers union are affiliated with international trade union secretariats.

 

b. The Right to Bargain Collectively

 

In addition to the Constitution and the Labor Code, there is a basic framework agreement between the USTN, employers, and the Government that defines all classes and categories of work, establishes basic conditions of work, and defines union activities. The Labor Code is based on ILO principles. It protects the right to organize and prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers; labor unions reported no such discrimination. In private and state-owned enterprises, unions widely used their right to bargain collectively with management without government interference for wages greater than the statutory minimum as well as for more favorable work conditions. Collective bargaining also exists in the public sector. The USTN represents civil servants in bargaining with the Government. Agreements between labor and management apply uniformly to all employees.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor, except by legally convicted prisoners; however, although slavery is prohibited by the Constitution, a traditional form of slavery still is practiced by the Tuareg and Arab ethnic minorities, particularly in remote northern regions (see Section 6.f.). In July the National Assembly passed revisions to the penal code to include new punishable offenses for crimes against the practice of slavery; however, a presidential promulgation to implement the new revisions was not issued by year's end. Persons are born into a traditionally subordinate caste and are expected to work without pay for those above them in the traditional social structure. None of these individuals appear to have been forced into servitude. Individuals can change their situations and are not pursued if they leave their positions; however, most do not and accept their circumstances as natural. A local NGO, Timidria, worked actively against this practice.

 

Trafficking in persons, including slaves, occurs (see Section 6.f.).

 

The Labor Code does not prohibit specifically forced and bonded labor by children (see Section 6.d.). There were credible reports of underage girls being drawn into prostitution, sometimes with the complicity of the family (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

 

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

 

The law permits child labor in nonindustrialized enterprises under certain conditions; however, law and practice prohibit child labor in industrial work. Children under the age of 14 must obtain special authorization to work, and those 14 to 18 years of age were limited to a maximum of 4 1/2 hours per day and certain types of employment so schooling may continue.

 

The law requires employers to ensure minimum sanitary working conditions for children. Ministry of Labor inspectors enforce child labor laws.

 

Child labor practically was nonexistent in the formal (wage) sector, and there were no known instances of the use of child labor in factories; however, children worked in the unregulated agricultural, commercial, and artisan sectors, and some, especially foreign youths, were hired in homes as general helpers and baby sitters for very low pay. The majority of rural children regularly worked with their families from a very early age--helping in the fields, pounding grain, tending animals, getting firewood and water, and other similar tasks. Some children were kept out of school to guide a blind relative on begging rounds. Others sometimes were employed by marabouts (Koranic teachers) to beg in the streets (see Section 6.f.). There was no official recognition of this labor.

 

There were credible reports of underage girls being drawn into prostitution, sometimes with the complicity of the family (see Section 5). Child prostitution was not criminalized specifically, and there is no precise age of consent.

 

In 2000 the Government ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for implementing the convention, was working with UNICEF and the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to determine the extent of the problem in the country.

 

The law does not prohibit specifically forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were no reports that such practices occurred. There were credible reports that a form of slavery was practiced among members of the Tuareg ethnic group (see Section 6.c.).

 

Trafficking in persons, including of slaves, occurs (see Section 6.f.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Labor Code establishes a minimum wage for salaried workers of each class and category within the formal sector; however, minimum wages were not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families. The lowest minimum wage is $33 (24,565 CFA francs) per month. Additional salary is granted for each family member and for such working conditions as night shifts and required travel, at approximately $25 (18,625 CFA francs) per month. Government salaries substantially were in arrears. Most households have multiple earners (largely in informal commerce) and rely on the extended family for support.

 

The legal workweek is 40 hours with a minimum of one 24-hour rest period; however, for certain occupations the Ministry of Labor authorizes longer workweeks of up to 72 hours. There were no reports of violations.

 

The Labor Code also establishes occupational safety and health standards; however, due to staff shortages, inspectors focused on safety violations only in the most dangerous industries: Mining; building; and manufacturing. Although generally satisfied with the safety equipment provided by employers, citing in particular adequate protection from radiation in the uranium mines, union workers are in many cases not well informed of the risks posed by their jobs. Workers have the right to remove themselves from hazardous conditions without fear of losing their jobs.

 

The Labor Code also protects foreign workers.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law does not prohibit trafficking in persons, and there was evidence that the country is a transit point and destination for a small number of trafficked persons. Internal trafficking occurs, and there was anecdotal evidence that organized rings may victimize young girls who come to work as household helpers.

 

Trafficking in persons generally was conducted by small-time operators who promised well-paid employment in Niger. Victims, primarily from Benin, Togo, Nigeria, and Ghana, are escorted through the formalities of entering the country, where they find that their employment options are restricted to poorly-paid domestic work or prostitution. Victims also must use a substantial portion of their income to reimburse the persons who brought them to Niger for the cost of the trip. Compliance is enforced by "contracts," which are signed by illiterate victims before they depart their countries of origin; alternatively, the victim's travel document simply is seized. A local NGO also reported that some rural Nigerien children are victims of domestic trafficking in which the victim (or his/her family) is promised a relatively decent job only to be placed in a home to work as a servant. The victims must use their earnings to reimburse the persons who brought them to the city.

 

Internal trafficking, which is rooted in the traditions and poverty that underlie the country's largely informal economy, includes the child marriages of girls and the indenturing of boys to Koranic teachers (see Section 5). In response to economic hardship, some parents arranged for their young daughters to marry older men, presumably without their consent, and then send them to join their husband's families. Similarly some rural parents send their sons to learn the Koran in the cities where, in return for their education, the boys support their teachers by begging on the streets (see Section 6.d.).

 

NIGER - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

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

 

NIGER - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The legal workweek is 40 hours with a minimum of one 24-hour rest period; however, for certain occupations the Ministry of Labor authorizes longer workweeks of up to 72 hours.

 

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