Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

The Committee notes that the Government's report does not reply to the matters which it has been raising since its 1996 direct request.

The Committee notes the Government's repeated statement to the effect that the principle set out in the Convention does not raise any difficulty in either the public or the private sector. It wishes to draw the Government's attention to paragraph 253 of its 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, in which it emphasized that, by its nature, by the way in which it develops, and as a result of the equivocal character of discrimination with regard to remuneration, the application of the principle will necessarily unearth difficulties. It is for this reason that it is necessary for the Committee to be provided with precise and practical information enabling it to assess the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice. It therefore reiterates the requests that it made in previous comments for recent information to be provided on the application of the Convention in practice, and particularly statistical data on the wage rates and the average actual earnings of men and women in the private, cooperative and mixed sectors disaggregated, if possible, by occupation, sector of activity, seniority and level of qualification, as well as information on the corresponding percentage for women. It also hopes that the Government's next report will contain the information requested in its previous direct requests, which read as follows:

1. The Committee recalls that section 4, II, of the Labour Code of 1987 provides for equal remuneration only for "work of the same nature and the same volume carried out in identical conditions", which is inconsistent with Article 1 of the Convention which provides that equal remuneration for men and women workers must apply to all work "of equal value". The Committee notes that the Government indicated previously that equality of remuneration for men and women workers who perform work of equal value, even if it is of a different nature, is applied through the work rules in the establishments that are covered by the Labour Code, and that it maintains in its latest report that equal remuneration for work of equal value applies throughout the private, cooperative and mixed sectors, that the Labour Inspectorate is responsible for ensuring that the law is applied and has reported no infringements in this respect. It again asks the Government to provide copies of these work rules with its next report.

The Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that section 4 of the Labour Code does not give full effect to the Convention, which provides for equal remuneration for work of equal value. It would therefore be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures it plans to take to amend section 4 so as to bring the labour legislation into conformity with the Convention.

2. With regard to supplementary bonuses and indemnities that are determined as a function of the results of the enterprise and are assigned through agreements negotiated between organizations of employers and workers, the Committee notes the Government's statement that the bonuses and indemnities are granted without discrimination, as in the public service. It again asks the Government to provide examples of enterprise, corporation or other agreements, as well as statistical tables showing the distribution of bonuses and indemnities by category of worker and between men and women workers in both the public and private sectors, so that it may ascertain that the principle of the Convention is observed in respect of this type of remuneration.

The Committee also asks the Government to provide copies of collective agreements fixing wage levels in various sectors of activity, with an indication, if possible, of the percentage of women covered by such agreements and the distribution of men and women at the different levels.

3. With regard to the public service, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, remuneration is equal for men and women with the same skills, who are employed at the same grade and work in the same areas and conditions. It asks the Government to provide with its next report the salary scales applying in the public sector, with an indication of the percentage of men and women employed at the different levels.