Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report and attached documentation.

1. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Minister for Labour was to have introduced by the end of 1991, proposals to amend the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974 and the Employment Equality Act, 1977. The Committee requests the Government to supply full information on any amendments made to the Acts, including, when available, the relevant texts.

2. The Committee has also noted the ruling of the European Court of Justice in Murphy and others and Bord Telecom (Case 15/86, 1988 1 CMLR 879), which concluded that the equal pay provisions of the European Community apply in the case where a worker is engaged in work of a greater value than that of the person with whom a comparison is made for the purposes of gaining equal pay; and that sections 2 and 3 of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act are to be read accordingly.

3. The Committee has noted the provisions of the Employment Regulation Orders forwarded by the Government with its report. The Committee has also noted the statement in the report concerning the effect of section 5 of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974 (under which a provision in a collective agreement, employment regulation order or registered employment agreement in which differences in rates of remuneration are based on or related to the sex of employees is null and void). The Committee observes, however, that even where it appears that pay scales have not been set by reference to the sex of the worker, it may become apparent, through an examination (which would usually involve an objective evaluation of jobs) that some factors, such as physical exertion in the case of work performed mainly by men have been compensated in terms of remuneration whereas those job requirements found to predominate in the work performed mainly by women, such as dexterity, precision and monotony, are undervalued and correspondingly underpaid. The Committee would accordingly request the Government to consider, in consultation with the social partners, the feasibility of examining some of those agreements which cover sectors or industries in which a significant proportion of women are employed to determine whether wage rates have been fixed without discrimination, even of an indirect nature. In this regard, the Committee also requests the Government to indicate the extent to which job evaluation is used to establish pay scales in newly determined agreements or orders.

4. The Committee has noted from the statistics compiled by the Central Statistics Office that women's earnings appear to remain at approximately 61 per cent of men's in the case of weekly earnings and at about 69 per cent in the case of hourly earnings in the industrial sector. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether measures have been taken or are contemplated to discern the reason for the wage differential and whether any initiatives have been taken to reduce the gap. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide statistical data regarding the average earnings of women and men in the economy.