Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its brief report.

1. In its previous direct request, the Committee noted that the minimum wage is fixed by the Labour Advisory Commission, while other wage rates are determined by collective bargaining, and requested the Government to provide copies of collective agreements determining remuneration rates for a series of sectors, with an indication, where possible, of the percentage of women covered by these instruments and the percentages of men and women employed at the various levels. The Committee takes note of the Government's statement that the wage system of the country allows all workers, irrespective of their sex, to earn the same remuneration for work of equal value, but that it is not possible, at this point in time, to send copies of collective agreements because collective bargaining is currently carried out at the level of the enterprise, between the employer and the trade union. The Committee refers to the comments it is making in the direct request under Convention No. 111 regarding the possibility of technical assistance in certain areas where the national system of gathering statistics is perceived to be inadequate. It would also repeat its request to the Government for a copy of any enterprise-level collective agreement that would throw light on how the present Convention is applied in practice.

2. The Committee noted in its previous direct request that section 3(3) of the General Regulations on Conditions of Service of Public Servants provides that public servants who perform "identical" work are entitled to equal wages for "equal" work. The Committee referred the Government to paragraphs 19 to 21 and 52 to 70 of the 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, in which it explained that the Convention goes beyond the mere reference to "identical" work when determining the value of work. The Committee accordingly requested the Government to indicate the measures which have been taken or are envisaged to include in the General Regulations on Conditions of Service of Public Servants the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, and not only for identical work. Since the current report contains no information on this point, the Committee once again requests a copy of the wage scales applicable to the public service (established by the Decree of 29 December 1990), together with information on the distribution of men and women at the various levels and the categories of public service employment.

3. The Committee noted that the statistics provided by the Government in reply to its previous request are global in nature and are not disaggregated by sex; they do not therefore enable it to assess the participation of women in working life and, more specifically, to assess the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee, taking note of the information supplied by the Government regarding the difficulties it faces in providing such data, reminds the Government, as it mentions above, that the technical assistance of the Office is available if there is a need to re-examine the methodology used in the national statistics system.