Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report and attached documentation in response to the Committee's previous comments.

1. Referring to its observation, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the action taken to ensure the application of section 7 of the Employment Regulations, as amended by Statutory Instrument No. 61 of 1990.

2. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the copy of the Memorandum of Collective Agreement between the Zambia Bankers (Employers) Association and the Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (published in the Government Gazette, Vol. XXV, No. 64 of 29 May 1989) forwarded by the Government with the present report - which appears to have replaced the terms of an earlier agreement published as Gazette Notice No. 376 of 1989 - still provides in clause 19 that a "married male employee in group 1 shall receive a marriage allowance of K20 a month upon production of a satisfactory documentary proof of marriage". The Committee further notes that while the above-mentioned agreement was due to remain in force from 1 January 1989 until 31 December 1990, the Memorandum sets out conditions for its continuance beyond that period (paragraphs (b), (c) and (e) of the preamble). In case the agreement has continued in force, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the action taken to ensure that the marriage allowance granted under clause 19 of this agreement is payable under the gender-neutral terms required by the Convention. In this regard, the Committee has noted with interest that section 108 of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act, 1993 (Act No. 27 of 1993), proscribes the imposition of any penalty or disadvantage on employees on the grounds of sex and marital status, among others. Accordingly, the Committee also requests the Government to indicate the action taken to ensure compliance both with the Convention and with the above-mentioned national labour legislation of all other collective agreements which award marriage allowances or any other benefits that differentiate on the basis of sex.

3. The Committee requests the Government to provide copies of recent collective agreements (concluded in a number of different industries) that have been registered under the provisions of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act, 1993.

4. The Committee notes that an evaluation of jobs carried out in the "ZCCM" by the Copper Industry Services Board was undertaken with a view to place and pay employees according to the value of their work, irrespective of sex. It hopes that the Government will be able to provide information in its next report concerning the distribution of women and men in the classifications determined through this evaluation.

5. Noting from the report that the principal function of the Organization and Methods Office of the public service is to provide advice to management on the economically efficient and effective use of human and material resources, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether that Office therefore plays a role in ensuring the application of the principle of the Convention. In this regard, the Committee refers the Government to Paragraph 6 of the Equal Remuneration Recommendation (No. 90), 1951, which suggests various measures to raise the productive efficiency of women as a means of facilitating the application of the principle of the Convention.

6. While appreciating that limited financial and human resources have curtailed activities to assess the application of the Convention (as might be done through studies or by the systematic collection and analysis of statistical data), the Committee remarked - in its 1990 General Observation - upon the difficulties encountered by governments in applying the Convention when they lack knowledge of the true situation due to the unavailability or inadequacy of data and research. It also reminded governments on that occasion of the possibility of obtaining the advice and assistance of the International Labour Office in regard to documenting the nature and extent of existing inequalities and to devising measures to remedy any problems. In the light of these considerations, the Committee hopes that the Government will consider taking action, in collaboration with employers' and workers' organizations, to ascertain the extent to which the Convention is being implemented in practice.

7. The Committee hopes that the Government will supply copies of those annual reports (for the years 1988 to 1991) of the Department of Labour which, at the time of reporting, were being printed together with any others available; and that full information will be provided on the measures taken by labour inspectors to ensure the application of the Convention.