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The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Legislative developments. The Committee notes the Government’s indications given in its report under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), that the Labour Standards Bill included provisions on sex discrimination in employment. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure, in the context of any forthcoming legislative initiative in the area of labour law, that national legislation gives full expression to the Convention’s provisions which provide for equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Minimum wages. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that measures will be taken to amend the Minimum Wage Act to ensure the application of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to report on any concrete measures taken to amend the Act to extend its scope to those sections of the workforce currently excluded from coverage.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes that the Government is considering the report of the Wages, Salaries and Emolument Relativity Panel set up in 2004, which examined pay differences in the private and public sectors. In 2005, a Presidential Committee on Consolidation of Emoluments in the Public Sector was set up and the Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission was reconstituted. The Committee asks the Government to collect and provide information on how these bodies take the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value into consideration. Please also provide further information on the progress made in updating the job evaluation and grading survey of 1974.

Part V of the report form. General appreciation of the application of the Convention. The Committee notes that no annual sample survey on employment, wages and hours of work has been undertaken since 2002. It asks the Government to provide a copy of the next survey as soon as it has been completed, as well as any other information at the Government’s disposal that would assist the Committee in assessing the practical application of the Convention, such as studies or reports addressing the issue of equal pay for men and women.