Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Measures to address the gender wage gap. In its previous direct request, the Committee noted that the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate does not have available “ad hoc” instruments to assess the effectiveness and impact of its activities, except in very specific cases in which further inspections are envisaged on some or all of the enterprises already inspected at an earlier stage. The Government indicated that this is the reason why it cannot provide detailed information on this subject. With regard to the information technology tool known as the ISOS programme (relating to manuals for the appraisal of jobs and the identification of indicators of wage discrimination), the Committee noted that, according to the report, a series of practical difficulties have been encountered in its use by the labour inspectorate. In 2008, the Government indicates that these problems persist.  The Committee would appreciate receiving information on any other mechanisms used by the Government to assess the wage gap and to evaluate the impact of the measures taken on reducing this gap.

Social partners. In its previous direct request, the Commission asked the Government to indicate the measures taken as a result of the recommendations made by the Committee established under the terms of the Declaration for social dialogue concluded on 8 July 2004 by the Government and the social partners, which recommends adopting “measures to eliminate the gender wage gap”. The Committee notes that in its report the Government only refers to the Law on Equality of 2007. The Committee again asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken to eliminate the gender wage gap, as agreed with the social partners in 2004, their application in practice and the impact thereof.

The Committee notes that the information provided by the Government with respect to the second request formulated in paragraph 2 of the Committee’s previous direct request are not related to issues covered by the provisions of the Convention. The Committee again asks the Government to provide practical information regarding the requests formulated in paragraphs 1 and 2 of its previous direct request concerning the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. In general, the Committee asks the Government to provide more information on the application of the Convention in practice and, in particular, to provide information pertinent to the comments of the Committee.