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

1. The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report. The Committee also notes with interest that, in response to a request by the Government, the Office held a tripartite seminar on women workers' rights in Beijing in May 1996, which aimed at furthering equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in all respects, including remuneration.

2. Article 1(a) of the Convention. In its previous comment, the Committee requested information on the measures taken to ensure that the principle of equal remuneration is applied to all payments and benefits granted over and above the minimum wage. (The Committee appreciates that these types of components of the wage package, which are paid either in cash or in kind - including overtime pay, allowances for special working conditions and environments, food subsidies, housing and other fringe benefits - are not to be taken as components of the minimum wage, in accordance with section 17 of the 1993 Regulations concerning minimum wages in enterprises and section 3 of the 1994 Circular on the implementation of the measures for the protection of minimum wages.) The purpose of this question is to determine whether there exist measures to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of sex in respect of those wage components which do not form part of the minimum wage, as it has become apparent that, in some other countries, these additional benefits have been paid or granted in such a way that constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex. In this regard, the Committee has noted that section 23 of the 1992 Act on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women provides that women shall be equal with men in the allotment of housing and the enjoyment of welfare benefits. Please indicate, however, whether any other measures have been taken to ensure that discrimination on the basis of sex does not occur with respect to all other types of these payments or benefits made above the minimum wage.

3. Article 1(b). The Committee notes the Government's expressed commitment to ensuring equal pay for men and women undertaking the same job, and its acceptance of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, which is being facilitated by the introduction of the post and skill wage system. The Committee notes that this system, which was introduced on a trial basis in 1992, seeks to establish a basic wage system for industries through an appraisal of labour, which comprises a post assessment and an accomplishment assessment. The post assessment classifies the labour requirements of different posts on the basis of four criteria - skill, responsibility, strength and working conditions. According to the report, "skill" comprises educational level, working experience, and ability required by different posts and positions; "responsibility" measures the level of responsibility for the quality of products and services, quantity, costs and consumption, responsibility for equipment and property, safety and health, production operation and management; "strength" measures the extent of mental and physical exertion, degree of fatigue, working posture and the efficiency of working time; and "working conditions" includes: (i) the level of danger (underground, working in tunnels, high altitude, high speed, under water, maritime work and exposure to flammable and explosive materials); (ii) the level of hazard (exposure to high temperature, radiative heat, low temperatures, dust, noise and other toxic and hazardous materials); and (iii) the degree of physical and mental impairment caused by the natural environment and by different shifts (work on a plateau, an open field, maritime and flight operations, long night and rotating shifts). The assessment of accomplishment involves an analysis of a worker's skill and vocational level and the quality and quantity of labour contributed. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, this system of appraisal (which now covers some 30 million workers) will help to avoid undervaluing the amount of labour contributed in those sectors where the posts are dominated by women workers, thus guaranteeing the implementation of the principle of "to each according to his work". The Government further states that this post and skill wage system is playing the role of an objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed, as required by the Convention, and that it is no longer necessary to compare the different posts of men and women, as suggested by the Committee. While acknowledging that the system, as described, does not involve consideration of the sex of the worker, the Committee recalls that the aim of the Convention is to eliminate wage discrimination for women workers through ensuring equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and an approach which is merely gender-neutral does not address this goal. Some elements, for example, mentioned in the criteria used to evaluate jobs in the post and skill wage system, such as those concerning working conditions, may favour men over women. Moreover, some factors which are more likely to be present in the jobs undertaken by women may not be identified and therefore not valued in such schemes, as is often the case with caring skills and responsibility, human relations skills and manual dexterity. Because the sexes do tend to be segregated in employment, the application of the Convention necessarily involves measures to compare their different work, in terms of the value of their respective jobs. In order to assess whether the wage system is affected by any sex bias, the Committee suggests that the Government examine the possibility of undertaking an analysis of the actual situation of women, in terms of their grading levels and remuneration, as compared to that of men, under the wage systems in operation. The Committee also requests the Government to provide copies of the wage structure determined by this system in a number of industries where women dominate the labour force, together with data on the numbers of women and men employed in different occupations and at different levels.

4. The Committee notes that, in line with section 2 of the 1994 Labour Act and section 2 of the Regulations concerning minimum wages in enterprises, the principle of "equal remuneration for equal work" applies to all workers, including those employed in agriculture, construction, education and health, small and medium-sized enterprises and special economic zones. As concerns measures to ensure the application of those provisions, the Committee notes that, in accordance with sections 85 and 87 of the Labour Act, the labour administrative departments of county-level governments and the relevant departments of governments at the county level or above are obliged to inspect, supervise and enforce the implementation of labour legislation in employing units. In the case of a violation of the legal rights of women and juvenile workers, the employing unit is ordered to correct the situation and to pay a fine. Where a woman's legal rights are infringed, she has the right (under section 48 of the Act on the protection of the rights and interests of women) to request a disposition from the competent department or to bring a lawsuit. Disputes between an enterprise and the workers concerning the implementation of the relevant state wages' policy can be settled by a mediation and arbitration process. The Committee requests the Government to provide, in its next report, statistics on the number of equal pay violations observed by the relevant authorities or alleged by workers.

5. Noting that the Government's second report on the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (1994) states that the phenomenon of "equal work with unequal pay still exists in some areas and units" and that the Government's "Programme for the Development of Chinese Women (1995-2000)" highlights as a target the implementation of equal pay for equal work for both sexes in the city and countryside, the Committee hopes that the Government will provide information on any additional measures being taken or contemplated to ensure and promote pay equality, including measures taken in cooperation with the employers' and workers' organizations and the All-China Women's Federation.

6. The Committee notes the terms of the job classification and remuneration tables for government officials, furnished by the Government. It requests the Government to provide an indication of the number of women workers employed in the different grades and classification levels concerned. Please also indicate whether consideration has been given to collecting wage statistics, disaggregated by sex.