Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Article 1 of the Convention. Legal provisions. The Committee notes with interest sections 117 and 118 of the new Labour Code guaranteeing equal remuneration for work of equal value for men and women. Section 117 provides a broad definition of “salary” containing all elements of remuneration set out in Article 1(a) of the Convention, while section 118 requires employers to ensure equal remuneration for the same work or work of equal value for all workers, irrespective of their nationality, sex, age or status. The elements of remuneration should be established on the basis of the same criteria for men and women, and professional categories and classifications, and criteria for promotion should be common to both sexes. Job evaluation methods should be based on objective considerations based essentially on the nature of the tasks to be performed. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the practical application of sections 117 and 118 of the Labour Code, including information on the number, nature and outcome of any cases concerning unequal remuneration between men and women addressed by the labour inspectorate or the courts.

Article 2. Application of the principle by means of collective agreements. The Committee recalls previous indications by the Government that, after the adoption of the Labour Code 2006, the social partners would renegotiate most existing collective agreements in order to ensure that no gender stereotypes are being used in the evaluation of posts listed in collective agreements. The new Labour Code having been adopted, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on any steps taken to encourage the social partners to avoid the use of gender stereotypes and gender bias in the renegotiation and conclusion of existing and future collective agreements, including the interoccupational collective agreement, so that no differentials occur between men and women as regards remuneration. Please also provide examples of any collective agreements incorporating the principle of equal remuneration of men and women for work of equal value.

The Committee notes with regret 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, in relevant parts, as follows:

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Article 4. Cooperation with the social partners. The Committee notes the Government’s statement with regard to the decisions taken by the National Council for Labour and Social Legislation to apply the Convention. The Government’s report does not, however, contain any specific information on the concrete activities through which the Council is promoting the implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. It hopes that the Government will provide such information with its next report.

Parts III and V of the report form. Practical application and statistics. The Committee notes from the statistics of 2004 attached to the Government’s report on Convention No. 111 that women make up only 21.4 per cent of the employees in the public service and are concentrated in the health and education ministries and to a lesser extent in the ministries for economy, agriculture and the promotion of women. The statistics further show that women continue to be under-represented in higher job categories and decision-making posts (with women representing only 12 per cent of the employees in level A1 and 12.5 per cent in level A2). The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not include the requested information on the results achieved by the Ministry for the Advancement of Women and Social Affairs to address the issue of occupational segregation and to promote women’s access to better paid higher status jobs and managerial positions in the public sector. As such action helps to promote the application of the Convention, the Government is asked to provide such information with its next report. Noting also the Government’s statement that no statistics are available on the earnings of men and women in the public and private sectors, the Committee wishes to point out that such information is needed in order to assess how the principle of equal pay for men and women for work of equal value is applied in practice. It encourages the Government to work towards the compilation of such statistical information and asks the Government to provide whatever information is available on the earning levels of men and women, by branch, economic activity and occupation in both the public and private sectors.

Part III of the report form. Enforcement by the labour inspectorate. With reference to its previous request on the difficulties encountered by the Inspectorate for Labour and Labour Legislation in enforcing the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, the Committee notes that the Government wishes to undertake a study outlining the difficulties encountered by labour inspectors in enforcing the principle and assessing their training needs. The study would provide the basis for a future training programme in this area. The Committee reminds the Government that it might wish to ask for assistance from the Office in this regard and in the meantime encourages the Government to undertake every action to improve the capacity of the labour inspectorate to ensure the application of the principle of the Convention.