West African labour council opens a regional reflection on adequate wages with ILO support

BAMAKO (ILO News) – Representatives of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and civil society from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo met in Bamako on 6 and 7 October 2026 for the 17th General Assembly of the WAEMU Labour and Social Dialogue Council (CTDS). The 70 participants reviewed the state of social dialogue in the region and examined draft opinions on trade union representativeness and on social justice in WAEMU member States, with technical inputs from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

At the request of the Council, the ILO used the Assembly to present its Living Wage Programme and to inform members about preparations for a regional forum on living wages. The timing reflects a convergence of regional developments: the Council identified wage policy as a regional priority in an opinion adopted in October 2025, and a technical assistance agreement signed between the ILO and WAEMU in January 2026 provides a framework for turning recommendations into action.

Presenting the Living Wage Programme, the ILO stressed that a regional approach to adequate wages does not mean seeking a uniform wage across WAEMU countries. Instead, it aims to strengthen the data, institutions and social dialogue mechanisms that enable each country to set wages through better informed processes. In line with ILO Convention No. 131 and the tripartite agreement on wage policies, including living wages, adopted by the ILO Governing Body in 2024, wage setting is about balancing the needs of workers and their families with economic factors such as productivity, employment and the sustainability of enterprises.

The presentation also highlighted that experience applying the ILO methodology for estimating the needs of workers and their families already exists within the region. The methodology, which draws on nationally representative data produced by national statistical offices, has been implemented in several countries, including Côte d’Ivoire.

Council members were invited to share their national experiences and challenges in minimum wage setting and adjustment, includingthe use of data and evidence to inform wage setting processess, and to identify gaps in data, methodologies, institutional frameworks and technical capacities. The high level of informality in all eight economies stood out as an important factor to consider when discussing and setting adequate wages.

As long as there are individuals, production structures and employers, different interests will come into conflict. It is precisely the function of social dialogue to mitigate this clash of interests.

Birane Thiam, Permanent Administrative Secretary, WAEMU Labour and Social Dialogue Council

The Bamako meeting was presented as the first step in a progressive regional process, grounded in the practices and needs expressed by the countries themselves. In the coming weeks, country-level meetings will allow the ILO to collect and map national information on wage-setting mechanisms, hold technical consultations and identify national needs and priorities. These exchanges will feed into the preparation of a regional forum, envisaged for the first quarter of 2027, and will help determine the scope of any further regional cooperation, subject to the interest and priorities expressed by the countries.

The ILO Living Wage Programme supports constituents, upon request, to estimate living wages in line with ILO principles and to strengthen wage-setting institutions, including minimum wage systems and collective bargaining. Its activities on living wage estimation in WAEMU countries are supported by the French Ministry of Labour and Solidarity.

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