Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous comments.

1. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide full particulars of disputes concerning the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women that might have come to the attention of the labour inspectorate. The Committee notes the indication that the labour inspectorate has not yet recorded any disputes of this nature. It asks the Government to provide as soon as possible information relating to point V of the report form on the manner in which practical effect is given to the Convention.

2. With regard to the criteria for appraising jobs applied in the private and public sectors, the Committee notes that section 26 of the General Collective Agreement enclosed with the report provides that the wage of each worker shall be determined on the basis of the job assigned to him or her in the enterprise. This provision also stipulates that all workers must be classified in one of the categories defined in section 43 of the same Agreement. The Committee also notes that the enterprise collective agreements for the various sectors, which supplement and clarify the General Collective Agreement, contain the same provisions.

Thus, the enterprise collective agreement of the Chad Cotton Company (COTONTCHAD) stipulates in section 14 that employees other than managers shall be classified in the wage scales according to the following criteria: training, qualifications, experience, professional value and the post held. Section 16 of the same Agreement, which concerns managers, establishes classification by category according to training, professional value, the importance of the post and the responsibilities involved. The Committee also notes that the General Collective Agreement must be observed by both public and private employers.

The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that no services are reserved specifically for men or women and that the absence of women in certain services is due to the fact that there are no women possessing the necessary qualifications. In this connection, it refers to paragraph 22 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, which points out that "the fact that women workers are more heavily concentrated in certain jobs and in certain sectors of activity has to be taken into account so as to avoid or redress a biased evaluation of qualities traditionally considered as peculiar to women". It asks the Government to indicate in its next report the sectors or services where there are no women or where women are concentrated.