Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1990, publiée 77ème session CIT (1990)

The Committee notes the Government's report and the documentation annexed thereto.

1. Wage differentials in the sugar industry. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that Appendix C to the 1984-85 collective agreement covering this industry provided in clause 1 that in 1984 and 1985 minimum rates of wages were to be 12.5 per cent higher than the rates of wages paid during the year 1983. It recalled that the Sugar Workers (Minimum Wage) Order, 1982, had established in clause 5 for 1983, minimum hourly wages of $3.23 for general workers, male, and $2.68 for general workers, female, in factories. It observed the corresponding differential rates, increased by 12.5 per cent, were maintained in clause 5 of Appendix C to the 1984-85 collective agreement which established minimum hourly wages of $3.63 for general workers designated "A" class and $3.02 for general workers designated "C" class in factories, without any description of their jobs. The Committee also noted that in 1983 hourly minimum wage rates in plantations and estates, distinguished between four categories: men, A class, men, B class, women, A class and women, B class. These differences were faithfully reflected for 1984 and 1985 in increased rates which distinguished four categories of sugar workers over 18 years of age by reference not to the work actually performed when employed on time work, but, in the case of the three higher paid categories, by reference to tasks they are required to perform when employed at piece rates. The Committee requested the Government to provide full information on the numbers of men and women in the various wage categories, and on any job descriptions, adopted for those wage categories which do not indicate the jobs actually performed.

Attached to the Government's latest report are the texts of the collective agreements in the sugar industry for the years 1984-85, 1986, 1987 and 1988, as well as the wage rates payable to sugar workers for the years 1989, 1990 and 1991. The Committee notes that, for all those years, the wage rates still distinguish between general workers "A" class, general workers "C" class, artisans "A" class, and artisans "B" class. The agreements still contain four categories of sugar workers over 18 years old, but they do not contain any descriptions of the corresponding jobs (with the sole exception of clause 4 of Appendix D to the collective agreements, "conditions of employment", which provides that a general worker employed on painting buildings shall be paid the rate applicable to a grade B artisan). The Committee notes from the Government's report that information is not available on the numbers of men and women in the various wage categories in the sugar industry.

The Committee is obliged to conclude that the discriminatory wage rates established in the Sugar Workers (Minimum Wage) Order, 1982, continue in the collective agreements in the sugar industry. It requests the Government to supply in its next report full and detailed information on the measures it has taken, either alone or in co-operation with the social partners, to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value to men and women workers in the sugar industry, including information on any job descriptions adopted for those wage categories which presently do not indicate the jobs actually performed, and on the methods used in job evaluation or classification in the sugar industry.

2. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not contain replies to points 3 and 4 of the observation made in 1989. It hopes that the Government's next report will contain detailed information on those points which read as follows:

3. General adoption of the principle of the Convention. In earlier comments the Committee noted that there had been no further progress on the Employment and Related Provisions Bill, which was to embody the principle of equal remuneration in terms similar to those in the Convention, and that it was unlikely that the Bill would be promulgated in the form of the draft in question. It also noted that neither the text of the Bill nor the comments of the occupational organisations could be supplied to the ILO, and expressed the hope that the Government would indicate the means by which the principle of the Convention was to be applied to all workers. The Government in its reply indicates that overall, it is satisfied that there are no forms of discrimination in remuneration in the country of which it is aware. The Government adds that it subscribes to and applies in the public service, the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and that this principle is fully endorsed by employers' and workers' organisations in collective bargaining. In those areas where workers are not organised, the Minister of Labour has the power under the Wages Councils Act to establish by order wages councils to determine wages and conditions for such workers if he considers the circumstances so demand. According to the Government's report, the principle of equal pay for equal work would naturally be applied in these circumstances as well. The Committee takes due note of these indications. Referring to point 1 of the present observation, it recalls that openly discriminatory wage rates were adopted by order as recently as 1982 and that the same wage differentials, albeit under a different name, appear to continue in existence by collective agreement; this, combined with the absence of data on jobholders and job evaluation, repeatedly requested from the Government, tends to show that the need for government action to promote and, in so far as possible, ensure the application to all workers of the principle of the Convention, still exists. Moreover, referring again to the explanations provided in paragraphs 44 to 70 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, the Committee must point out that a principle under which men and women doing equal work shall be paid at the same rate, such as proclaimed in the 1984 collective agreement for the Barbados Sugar Industry Ltd., merely covers equal remuneration for persons performing the same work, but falls short of the principle of the Convention, under which men and women shall be paid equal remuneration for work of equal value, implying a comparative evaluation of work of a different nature. The Committee again expresses the hope that standard-setting action to apply the principle of the Convention to all workers, as had been contemplated before, will soon be taken through one or several of the means listed in Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention, and that the Government will indicate the measures adopted to this end.

4. Application in practice. Referring to its general observation of 1984 on the Convention, the Committee once more expresses the hope that the Government will provide detailed information on the application in practice of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, in particular by furnishing information on the measures taken to monitor its implementation.