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

The Committee notes 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:

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report as well as the attached text of the Agreed Practices on Wages and Terms and Conditions of Employment (Tobacco Members and Tea Members) of January 1985 of the Agricultural Employers' Association.

1. The Committee notes that the above-mentioned Agreed Practices stipulates, in clause 3(b) respecting task workers, that, inter alia, an adult female who is employed to complete a task which is less than that given to an adult male is paid in proportion, while clause 3(a) prescribes the amount to be paid to an adult male task worker on completion of his task. While the differences in wage rates established under these provisions seem to relate to differences in the quantity of the work performed, the Committee notes that there is no provision on wage rates for an adult female worker who completes a task which is equivalent to that of an adult male. Moreover, the Committee pointed out in paragraph 54 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration that a criterion such as output, while legitimate in itself, becomes unacceptable under the Convention if it results in only women workers being required to show proof of their output. The Committee recalls that the implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, as defined in Article 1(b) of the Convention, requires that rates of remuneration are to be established without discrimination based on sex. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the Agreed Practices was approved by the Government and to provide information on the measures taken, in conformity with Article 4 of the Convention, to co-operate with the employers' association concerned for the purpose of giving effect to the principle of the Convention with regard to task workers.

2. More generally, the Committee again requests the Government to provide information on any measures it has taken to encourage or ensure that wages above the statutory minimum, whether fixed by collective agreement or otherwise, are paid in accordance with the principle of the Convention.

3. The Committee notes the Government's statement that remunerations are linked to job evaluations, and requests the Government to supply with its next report more detailed information on measures taken to promote objective appraisal of jobs. (Please refer in this respect to the explanations given in paragraphs 21, 52 to 62, and 138 to 152 of the 1986 General Survey.)

4. The Committee further notes from the Government's report that, when there are serious disputes or violations, the matter is reported to the Ministry of Labour for settlement. It asks the Government to provide information on cases of non-compliance with the principle of the Convention thus reported to the Ministry of Labour as well as on any other procedures for co-operation with the employers' and workers' organisations.