Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1993, publiée 80ème session CIT (1993)

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the detailed information provided in the Government's report, including the statistical data and case law, and the observations supplied by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO).

1. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Equal Opportunities Act, No. 443 of 30 May 1991, section 2 of which requires employers and workers to cooperate to attain equality at work and to endeavour to eliminate pay differentials between women and men who perform equal work or work considered to be of equal value. Section 18 states that "(p)rohibited sex discrimination shall be deemed to occur where an employer offers lower pay or other less favourable conditions of employment to workers of either sex performing work which is equal, or considered to be of equal value in the labour market, to work performed by workers of the opposite sex." Section 18 further provides that sex discrimination does not exist if the employer establishes that the different conditions of employment are related to the worker's actual qualifications, or that they are not in any way directly or indirectly related to the worker's sex. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the provisions of the Equal Opportunities Act concerning the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, in particular the enforcement activities of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman and the Equal Opportunities Board.

2. The Committee notes the statistical data which have been supplied concerning the pay differentials between men and women. It notes, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB), that pay differentials between men and women exist in both the private and public sectors because of the sex segregated labour market in which men are overwhelmingly employed in jobs paying more than those in which women are employed, and that the increase in pay differentials between women and men in the public sector noted during the second half of the 1980s could be a result of the new pay systems, namely individualized wage-setting which probably has been more favourable to men than women. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the allocation of approximately 90 per cent of "market pay" supplements to male government employees have been abolished, but that the amounts concerned have been incorporated in regular salaries. In this regard, the Committee notes the SCB's conclusions that, for government employees, there is less difference between women's and men's basic rates than between their total pay - which for municipal and county council employees includes supplements relating to working hours, such as compensation for non-working hours, on-call and standby duty.

The Committee notes with interest that the Government has appointed a special investigator to prepare a report on the nature and causes of these pay differentials between women and men and the possible means to overcome pay discrimination based on sex. The Committee requests the Government to supply a copy of this report as soon as it is completed. It again would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide information on other measures taken to recognize and understand the reasons for the earnings gap between men and women and to rectify the causes that are a result of direct and indirect sex discrimination.

3. The Committee notes with interest that the parties to the 1989-90 collective agreement for national government employees agreed to reserve 60 million Swedish kroner for joint efforts aimed at the development of methods and systems for comparing jobs of equal value. The Committee also notes with interest the information supplied by the LO on its new policy for working life and pay structures which includes efforts to devise models and methods for enhacing the valuation of women's jobs, in collaboration with its affiliated federations. The Committee requests the Government to indicate what results are being achieved in conjunction with these social partners towards developing viable methods of comparing the value of work. For example, was there any follow-up after the distribution to trade union organizations of the study on job evaluation funded by the Work Environment Fund and the Centre for Working Life?

4. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to the Government Bill on Equality to the Mid-Nineties (1987/88:105) to achieve an equal distribution of the sexes in occupational groups. The Committee again requests the Government to provide information on the measures and goals aimed at the elimination of both wage discrimination based on sex and the under-valuing of work performed by women.