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The Committee takes note of the Government’s report received on 18 November 2009 concerning developments which had taken place until 31 May 2009.

The Committee refers to its comments under the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), with regard to the observations communicated by the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) with the support of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on the impact of the measures introduced in the framework of the mechanism to support the Greek economy. The Committee notes that in the view of the GSEE the reforms introduced by the abovementioned measures have a direct impact on the application of Convention No. 100 as they entail a far-reaching reform in the area of wages and the related system of collective bargaining, social security and security of employment, which could result in increasing discrimination in pay. According to the GSEE the national general collective agreements provided a fundamental institutional guarantee of equality between men and women as regards minimum standards of wages and conditions of work, and contributed significantly to restraining the gender pay gap in Greece. The GSEE is particularly concerned that the combined effect of the financial crisis, the growing informal economy and the implementation of austerity measures may have adverse or spillover effects on the negotiating power of women, particularly older and migrant women with respect to their terms of employment and type of work contract, and the over-representation of women and workers with family responsibilities in precarious low-paid jobs. Finally, the GSEE draws attention to the possible deterioration of wages of other categories of workers that are (wholly or partly) excluded from the scope of the labour law protection, such as domestic workers and persons working in agricultural undertakings.

The Committee recalls its observation and direct request of 2008 addressing issues relating to the assessment of the gender pay gap, its underlying reasons relating to occupational segregation and different educational choices of men and women, the promotion of objective job evaluation methods in the public and private sectors, general measures to address the gender pay gap in cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations and the General Secretariat for Gender Equality, the promotion of social dialogue, including collective bargaining, as a means to improve remuneration in occupations and sectors primarily employing women, and enforcement of the legislation applying the Convention.

The Committee will examine the issues raised by the GSEE and the Government’s response thereto, together with the Government’s next report which is due in 2011.