CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report and the attachments provided.

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes with interest the document on the National Policy on Women, produced in May 1997 by the Salvadorian Institute for the Development of Women (ISDEMU), established under Legislative Decree No. 644 of 29 February 1996. According to the document in question, the national policy on women has been prepared on the basis of a strategic concept and is intended to be national in scope, and not limited in application to specific sectors or groups of women beneficiaries. The Committee observes with interest also that the declared objectives include ratification of the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), and revision of labour legislation to improve the conditions of working women. The Committee notes that the plan covers the period 1996-99 and requests the Government to send it information on the activities actually carried out in implementation of the plan and the results obtained, in particular in relation to section No. 4 (Women and work). Please also send a copy of the new national policy plan for women from the year 2000.

2. The Committee reiterates its request to the Government to send it information on the content of the national policy which aims at the realization of the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation, on the basis of the criteria in the Convention, apart from that of sex.

3. In its previous direct request, the Committee again requested information on the application of the principle of the Convention and the de facto situation, as well as the legal procedures which exist to remedy situations involving discrimination in employment and occupation. It also asked whether complaints had been brought before the courts or whether the provisions of section 30(12) of the Labour Code, which prohibits employers from making any kind of distinction on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, have been included in collective labour agreements. The Committee notes that the Government has indicated that the General Labour Inspection Directorate handles complaints made by workers against their employers and gives assistance in the holding of conciliation hearings, and that it carries out inspections automatically or at workers' requests. Please send more specific information on the labour inspection service in regard, for example, to inspections and conciliation hearings and complaints on which it has intervened in relation to the application of the principle of the Convention.

4. The Committee notes that female domestic workers and agricultural workers are subject de alguna manera (in some way) to the general legal provisions to which all other workers are subject and that when their rights are violated they can have recourse to the General Labour Inspection Directorate and directly to the labour courts. Please indicate the meaning of the expression alguna manera in the context used. Please also send information on the complaints made by domestic and agricultural workers -- in relation to the principle of the Convention -- to the authorities cited, and their outcome, so that an assessment can be made of the effectiveness of the protection system in the event of violation of the rights protected by the Convention.

5. Article 3. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted to obtain the cooperation of employers' and workers' organizations in the task of promoting acceptance and implementation of the policy set out in Article 2 of the Convention and to explain the forms in which this cooperation is carried out in regard to the other criteria enshrined in the Convention.

6. Article 4. The Committee notes the Government's information regarding the causes of dismissal set out in section 52 of the Civil Service Act and indicates that the Act provides no basis to apply any discrimination in relation to employment and occupation against officials and public or municipal employees who belong to the civil service on the mere suspicion of having committed faults or offences, including those on whom legitimate suspicion falls that they are engaging in activities contrary to the security of the State. The Committee requests the Government to send it the text of the Civil Service Act and to indicate what remedies are available in the civil service to guarantee that there is no discrimination based on political opinion either in employment or in access to employment.