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

The Committee notes the Government's report and attached documentation.

1. Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee recalled that the concept of equal remuneration applied not only to equal work, but also to work of equal value. The Government replied that the current wording of section 78 of the Labour Code is not to be interpreted restrictively as meaning only "identical work", but rather to mean "similar work". The Committee requested the Government once again to report on the measures which have been adopted to amend the wording of section 78 of the Labour Code so as to set out explicitly that equal remuneration also applies to work of a different nature but of equal value, in accordance with the Convention. In its latest report, the Government indicates that section 78 of the Labour Code has not been amended although it states that the latest reforms in the Political Constitution guarantee expressly in article 22(6) the equal rights of women, providing that "... men and women are declared legally equal. Women have equal rights and opportunities to men in all walks of life, especially in economic and labour matters ...". In this respect, the Committee recommends that section 78 of the Code be amended to reflect precisely the concept of "work of equal value".

2. The Committee had noted with interest the text of a collective labour agreement concluded in the textile industry and the 1992 statistics on the distribution of men and women workers in the various sectors of activity, supplied by the Government, which showed that the monthly income of women workers was significantly lower than that of men, especially at higher wage levels. In this respect, the Government states that salary differences between men and women in the labour market are of a cultural and historical order but that, in any case, they are not based on any legal grounds since by law wages must be fixed on the basis of objective and technical studies and must not give rise to any discrimination. The Committee suggests that the Government should direct the attention of the institutions responsible for monitoring practical application of labour legislation, for example, the labour inspection system, if appropriate, to ensure equality of remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Similarly, it suggests that the Government have recourse to ILO technical assistance in this if necessary. The Committee requests the Government to furnish the findings of any labour inspections which have disclosed salary differences between men and women based on sex.

3. The Committee notes the public administration salary scale provided by the Government and the statement that there is no breakdown according to sex. It reminds the Government of the value of statistics on the percentage of women and men in various occupations and levels of the public adminstration for seeking measures to ensure that the principles of the Convention are applied (1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, paragraph 248).