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1. The Committee notes the comments made by the General Union of Workers (UGT) transmitted to the Government in March 1999. The UGT claims that there is still serious and generally hidden salary discrimination on the grounds of sex; and it repeats some of its previous comments, namely that the concept of salary in Spanish law does not correspond to that understood in international law, that the concept of professional classification frequently comprises concepts of value attributed to specified tasks or output bonuses, which results in hidden discrimination against women, and that the measures adopted to combat discrimination are inadequate.

2. The UGT indicates that one of the hidden means of labour and salary discrimination, of which women are the chief victims, is the precarious nature of the employment produced by the high rate of temporary work. Short-term contracts provide for a lower salary which, in many cases, is around 50 per cent of the average salary. The Committee notes that, according to bulletin No. 17 of the Economic and Social Council, entitled "Social and employment panorama of women in Spain" of July 1999, only 35 per cent of contracts of indeterminate duration concluded in 1998 were with women.

3. The UGT also claims that the Government had rejected the trade union dialogue proposed repeatedly by the UGT on the subject of discrimination.

4. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information in its next report on the matters raised by the UGT, as well as including the information requested by the Committee in its previous comments.