Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

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

1. In its previous observations, the Committee has referred to "light wage groups" (leichtlohngruppen) which originated as explicitly female wage groups. The Committee noted that the wage classifications of women and men in a number of collective agreements tended to be differentiated mainly or solely according to the criterion of "physically light" versus "physically heavy" work, thus perpetuating the former wage differentiation which had been made expressly on the basis of gender. The Committee had noted that the most recent jurisprudence of the Federal Labour Court ensures that a higher classification can be obtained for jobs which, while physically lighter, involve mental and nervous strain; and that "physically arduous work", which is better paid, also includes jobs which involve not only muscular but other strain on human beings which can result in physical reactions. Accordingly, the Committee had asked the Government to provide information on the extent to which measures are being taken, to ensure that job evaluation and classification include criteria which are associated more often with the work performed by women, particularly in respect of those collective agreements where wages are differentiated mainly or only through the application of the criterion of "light" versus "heavy" work.

2. The Committee notes that the tenth report of the federal Government on the nature, scope and outcome of the action taken in respect of Article 119 of the EEC Treaty on Equal Pay for Men and Women (report to Parliament No.13/3120 of 28 November 1995) indicates that the situation has not changed since 1992 when the ninth such report was presented: out of a total of 268 industrial collective agreements scrutinized, 27 still contain "light wage groups". The Committee notes that on average, the remuneration in "light wage groups" is 2.8 per cent less than that paid for physically heavy unskilled work. The Government indicates that the number of persons classified into "light wage groups" (approximately 40,000 women and 8,000 men according to 1990 statistics) constitutes less than 0.6 per cent of the approximately 8.4 million workers employed in the processing industries at that date. According to the Government, these figures indicate that the problem is now of minor practical importance.

3. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the lack of change in the situation means that further efforts will have to be made by the parties to collective agreements in areas where such agreements still focus almost exclusively upon the degree of physical effort for the purposes of classifying forms of unskilled work. The Government also points out, however, that the mere existence of "light wage groups" in collective agreements provides no indication of whether or not women's work is actually undervalued in individual branches of industry; and that this is supported by the fact that both men and women are to be found in these wage groups, even though the proportion of men is much smaller. The Government does state, none the less, that if collective agreements were also to refer explicitly to sensory and nervous or similar mental strain, more so-called women's jobs would probably be classified in higher wage groups (as these factors are already generally considered to constitute "physically arduous jobs" for the purposes of pay classification criteria following the 1992 ruling of the Federal Labour Court, referred to above). While noting that any rulings of tribunals which are of practical importance are published and subscribed to by the employers' and workers' organizations, the Committee hopes that the Government will pursue specific measures to encourage the social partners to take account of such rulings. It looks forward to receiving information in this connection in the Government's next report.