Private sector employers normally use public sector settlements as guidelines for their own adjustments, and some private sector employers even exceed what the Government grants. However, the Government, conscious of International Monetary Fund guidelines, rarely grants wage increases that exceed, in the aggregate, the rate of inflation. As in the public sector, there is no real collective bargaining and frequently no signed agreements. The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members and organizers. Complaints are referred to the national labor court, which often takes a year or more to rule on a question.
Labor activists say that the problem is often moot by the time the court rules.
There are seven special commercial or industrial duty-free zones in Bolivia, and labor law and practice are the same in these zones as in the rest of the country. The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor and the law is generally complied with and enforced. No cases of forced or compulsory labor were reported in 1993. The law prohibits the employment of persons under 18 years of age in dangerous, unhealthy, or immoral work. Bolivia's labor code is ambiguous on the conditions of employment for minors aged 14 through 17, and it permits apprenticeship for children aged 12 through 14.