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

Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report.

1. The Committee notes that the Government reiterates its previous position concerning the conformity of section 95 of the Labour Code (which provides for equal wages without distinction on grounds of sex only under equal conditions of work, qualifications and output) with Article 1(b) of the Convention, which provides that such equality shall be based on work of equal value, which implies a comparative evaluation of work that is of a different nature. The Committee draws the Government's attention to the content of paragraphs 19 to 23 and 52 to 70 of the 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, in which it explains that by basing the comparison of work on its "value", the Convention goes beyond a mere reference to "identical" or equal work and determines the value of the work in question as the point of comparison. It once again requests the Government to indicate the manner in which the Convention is applied where men and women, in activities that are different or of a different nature, perform work that is of the same value. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to amend section 95 of the Labour Code, on the occasion of the forthcoming revision of the Code, so that the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value is specifically established.

2. With regard to the objective appraisal of jobs to ensure equal remuneration for work of equal value, particularly in cases in which the nature of the work is different, the Committee notes that the Government intends to avail itself of the technical assistance of the ILO to improve its current methods of evaluating jobs. The Committee notes that contact has already been made between the Government and the ILO with a view to examining arrangements for the provision of this assistance and it hopes to be kept informed of the progress achieved in the establishment of a system for the objective job appraisal in order to be able to compare different work, as recommended by Article 3 of the Convention.

3. Although it appreciates receipt of the copy of the Decree of 2 December 1994 fixing the minimum guaranteed inter-occupational wage and the guaranteed minimum agricultural wage, the Committee notes that the Government has not provided the information requested in order to enable it to evaluate the application of the principle of the Convention in practice. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information as soon as possible on: (i) the wage rates applicable in the public service, with an indication of the distribution of men and women at the various levels; (ii) some examples of collective agreements establishing wage levels with, if possible, indications on the distribution of men and women at the various levels and the percentage of women covered; and (iii) statistics on the real average earnings of men and women in the various economic sectors.