Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

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

1. The Committee notes that recent amendments made to the Labour Code (which came into force on 2 June 1996) include the introduction of provisions laying down equality between men and women (section 11.2) and non-discrimination on a number of grounds, including sex (section 11.3), as constituting basic principles of labour law, and that these principles are applicable to collective agreements, and to all rules, regulations and statutes determining the rights and responsibilities of parties to employment relationships. The Committee requests the Government to furnish copies of the fully amended Labour Code in due course.

2. The Committee notes that, although the amendments to the Labour Code have decentralized the wage regulation system, the legislation requires that remuneration be determined not only in accordance with the above-mentioned basic principles of equality, but also with reference to the kind of work performed, the skills required for its performance and the quality and quantity of work (section 78). The Committee also notes with interest from the Government's report that, in practice, public and private enterprises determine minimum rates of remuneration based on different methods of job evaluation, using as criteria for the differentiation of posts and wages, the factors of complexity of the work (including educational and professional qualifications and the need for innovation), the level of responsibility (including responsibility for the safety of other workers and contacts with external units), the arduousness of the work (physical, mental, psychoneurotic effort, including monotony) and working conditions. According to the report, the greater reliance on job assessment in classifying manual and clerical work is producing a more objective relationship between all of the posts in an enterprise, including between posts occupied by men and women, and is influencing the equalization of wages between the industrial and service industries. The decreasing role of the mining industry (dominated by men who receive relatively high wages) and the increasing role of the manufacturing and service industries (dominated increasingly by women) have also, according to the report, favoured an equalization of wages between men and women, although it is still the case that wage differentiation persists in particular sectors where female employment is exceptionally high and where remuneration is low, such as in publicly funded services - including health, education and the public administration. In its comments concerning the reasons for the current wage differentiation, the Government refers to the fact that women undertake lighter jobs than men in manual work. While noting that great efforts have obviously been made to ensure that gender-neutral factors are used in job evaluation schemes, the Committee observes that, in general, the factors used in job evaluation schemes often tend to favour one sex and the factors which are likely to be present in the jobs undertaken mainly by women are sometimes omitted and, therefore, not valued, as for example, the skills and responsibility necessary to care for patients or young children, organizational skills, communication and human relations skills and manual dexterity. Accordingly, the Committee asks that the Government consider the possibility of examining the job evaluation schemes in operation to ensure that the factors used capture all of the different aspects inherent in the work undertaken by both sexes. Please indicate whether, in addition to those services funded by the State, the "budgetary sphere" (referred to in the report) also encompasses such of those services which have now been privatized.

3. The report refers to a method of wage fixing for the state budgetary sphere, determined through the Act of 23 December 1994 on financial resources for wages in the state budgetary sphere (Official Bulletin of 1995, No. 34, Text No. 163). It is described as an attempt to counteract the tendency for low wages in that sector by instituting a tripartite mechanism for fixing average wages, which takes account of expected changes in the price of goods and services and of changes in the wages paid in enterprises. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the extent to which this method has improved the level of wages in the state budgetary sphere and to furnish a copy of the legislation, which was not received with the Government's report.

4. The Committee notes that, in the lowest wage group, women outnumbered men in 1994 on a ratio of 1.5:1, which represented an improvement over the situation in 1991-92, when the ratio was 2:1. In addition to women's employment being exceptionally high in particular sectors where the wages are relatively low, the Government indicates that the difference between men's and women's wages results also from the nature of the work performed by men and women. It also states that the number of women employed in managerial posts is lower, mainly because women are reluctant to undertake jobs that require long hours or demand a high level of responsibility. The report also cites other factors that contribute to the wage differential, including women's shorter period of professional work (which results from the possibility of earlier retirement), their work intervals stemming from maternity leave, their choice of less intense and less arduous professions, and women's less frequent availability for overtime or additional work. The Government acknowledges that in order to counteract the wage differential, particular activities to promote women into better paid areas and posts are required. It points out in this respect that, as women's lower wage levels determine the level of their social benefits (such as pensions), their situation in life is maintained at a weaker level, even after retirement.

5. The Committee has emphasized frequently that a comprehensive approach in the area of equality of opportunity and treatment is of particular importance for the application of Convention No. 100. Most of the obstacles to equal remuneration, to which the Government refers, come within the scope of Convention No. 111 (ratified by Poland) and some others concern also Convention No. 156 (not ratified). Accordingly, the Committee hopes that the Government will consider how it might improve the application of this Convention through the implementation of measures which, though related to Convention No. 100, fall within the scope of other ILO instruments. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide information indicating the measures being taken to reduce the wage differential between men and women.