Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

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

1. The Committee notes the new Constitution of Ukraine adopted at the Fifth Session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996. It notes that article 24 provides for ensuring equality of rights of women and men:

… by providing women with opportunities equal to those of men, in public and political, and cultural activity, in obtaining education and in professional training, in work and its remuneration; by special measures for the protection of work and health of women; by establishing pension privileges, by creating conditions that allow women to combine work and motherhood; by legal protection, material and moral support of motherhood, including the provision of paid leaves and other privileges to pregnant women and mothers.

The Committee welcomes these provisions promoting equality, including remuneration between women and men. It also welcomes the fact that the Constitution provides for equality between women and men in obtaining education and professional training, and that it promotes the taking of measures to facilitate reconciliation of work and family for women. It trusts that the Government will provide in its future reports information on the measures taken to apply the constitutional provision in practice and their impact.

2. The Committee notes the regulation concerning the National Council for Social Partnership, a copy of which was attached to the report from the Government. It notes that the Council is tripartite and that its tasks are to, amongst others, draft recommendations to the President of Ukraine regarding the direction of national social policies, participate in the preparation of drafts of laws and other legislative acts in the fields of social sector and labour relations and in the drafting of proposals concerning the improvement of labour legislation, taking into account the norms of international law. In this regard, the Committee recalls and reiterates its request to the Government made in its previous request to provide information on the activities of the Council to promote the application of the Convention.

3. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report that the labour legislation guarantees to all citizens of Ukraine equality in the field of labour and remuneration, irrespective of sex, among other grounds. In relation to this information, the Committee recalls that it had requested the Government in previous direct requests to take the necessary measures to ensure that the principle of equal remuneration is fully applied to wages as defined in sections 1 and 2 of the Act respecting the payment of wages, namely the basic wage, the additional wage and other incentive and compensatory payments. In addition, it again reiterates its hope that the principle of "equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value" will be included in the legislation and, more specifically, in the Labour Code which is at the drafting stage. The Committee asks the Government to supply information on the progress of the drafting of the Labour Code.

4. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report that equal remuneration for equal work is carried out by means of establishing in sectoral agreements the wage rates by occupations depending on the level of qualification. It also notes the provisions of the Act respecting collective contracts and agreements that a collective contract is to be concluded at enterprise level between the employer and the workers, based on the sectoral agreement, and that the content of a collective contract includes fixing of rates and remuneration, system and rate of remuneration and other kinds of pay for work, such as wage supplements, overtime and extra pay, bonuses, etc. In this connection, the Committee repeats its request to provide a copy of the general agreement in its next report as well as copies of the sectoral agreements containing the standards laid down for the conclusion of collective agreements which fix the wage rates and salary scales in private enterprises and organizations, as well as the Decree issued by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukraine fixing the wage rate for workers employed in institutions and organizations which are financed by the state budget.

5. The Committee asks the Government to provide statistical information in conformity with its general observation of 1998 on this Convention. Please also supply information on any analysis, or studies that have been undertaken on the trends in earnings and employment of men and women.