Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

1. With reference to its previous request, the Committee notes the Government's statement that the implementation of the wage system has had convincing results. However, a number of practical problems have arisen which are mainly related to the sub-classification of certain jobs and insufficient differentials. In order to remedy these insufficiencies, appeal machinery has been established, since 1986, in each ministerial department and in the units and enterprises for which they are responsible. The process of re-evaluating jobs concerned 105 jobs, a list of which has been supplied with the report. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the number and nature of the jobs filled by women in the 105 jobs that were re-evaluated, and the progress achieved as a result of the application of the wage system and its consequences on the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work which may be of a different nature but which is of equal value.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee noted, from the latest available statistics and the information supplied by the Government in connection with Convention No. 63, that the situation of women employees remained less favourable than that of men. It appears that women constitute a very low percentage of the workforce, at around 15 per cent and, according to the Government, they are concentrated in the manufacturing industries, for the most part textiles, and in service activities (administration, social services). The official statistics of average monthly wages (Algerian Statistics Directory No. 12, 1983-84 - National Statistics Office) in the textile industry, for example, reveal that the average monthly wage of women is much lower than that of men and it appears that, at the same skills level, women's salaries reach a comparable level to those of men only in the executive and high-level technician categories. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not contain a reply to these comments. It is therefore bound to request the Government once again to indicate any measure that is contemplated or has been adopted to give effect in practice to the principle of the Convention.

3. The Committee notes Decree No. 88-221 of 2 November 1988 issuing conditions for the payment of productivity bonuses and measures to link wages to production, Executive Decree No. 89-119 of 11 July issuing model terms and conditions of service for workers in the construction, public works and water sectors, and Decree No. 89-122 of 18 July 1989 issuing the specific terms and conditions of service of workers in the teaching and higher education services, which were referred to by the Government in its report. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply copies of the texts of the above Decrees.