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The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not reply to many of its previous comments, thus it is bound to revert to some of the matters raised in its previous direct requests, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the enactment of the General Labour Act, No. 2/00 of 11 February 2000. The Committee notes that the Act applies to non-resident foreign workers (section 1(3)), but excludes from its coverage civil servants and other state employees, permanent employees of consular offices or international organizations, partners in private sector cooperatives or other non-governmental organizations, home work and casual work (section 2). In view of these exclusions, the Committee asks the Government to supply information on the manner in which the principle of the Convention is applied to those categories of workers not covered by the Act.

2. Article 2. The Government indicates that the principle of the Convention is applied in practice in Angola and that workers are placed in a professional grade or salary group on the basis of their length of service and academic qualifications, without any discrimination on the basis of sex. In this context, the Committee once again notes that insufficient information is available to enable it to assess the practical application of the principle of the Convention. It therefore repeats its request that the Government supply with its next report:

(i)  for the public service and similar services, for which the wage scales are established by Decree No. 57/91, the distribution of men and women at the various wage levels;

(ii)  the text of collective or other agreements which fix wage levels that are higher than the minimum wage in the various sectors of the economy, with an indication, if possible, of the percentage of women covered by these collective agreements and the distribution of men and women at the various wage levels;

(iii)  statistics on the minimum wage rates and average earnings of men and women, if possible by occupation, sector of the economy (in particular, agriculture, fishing, industry and commerce, in which an increase in the participation rate of women has been noted), seniority and qualification level, with an indication of the corresponding percentage of women;

(iv)  information on the measures taken to monitor the equality of wages and, in particular, on the activities of the labour inspection services (violations reported and penalties imposed) and on the decisions of the courts relating to any violations.

Noting that it has continued to ask the Government to supply the statistical data referred to above since 1994, the Committee reminds the Government of the possibility of seeking technical assistance from the Office to facilitate the Government’s collection and analysis of the labour statistics requested.

3. Article 3. The Committee notes that, according to section 164(2) of the Act, the different components of the employee’s remuneration must be fixed pursuant to methods that are identical for both men and women workers. Further, section 164(3) provides that job evaluation criteria utilized must be the same for workers of both sexes. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report regarding the methods of job evaluation used to determine rates of remuneration in the public and private sectors.

4. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that Decree No. 2/95 of 17 February 1995, which establishes the wage scales for the public sector, is to be revoked. The Committee would appreciate receiving copies of the revoking instrument and of the new wage scales as soon as they are published.

The Committee once more hopes that the Government will provide replies to these points with its next report. It also asks the Government to provide a copy of the legislation on wages of various groups of workers since it is not annexed to the Government’s report as had been indicated.