Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Repetition

The Committee takes note of the Government’s first report and the supplementary information provided by the Government in light of the decision adopted by the Governing Body at its 338th Session (June 2020).

Article 1 of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. Legislation. The Committee takes note of the indications by the Government, in its report, that: (1) pursuant to Article 28 (a) of the Constitution of Suriname, all employees, regardless of their age, gender, race, nationality, religion or political affiliation, are entitled to remuneration for their work according to quantity, quantity, nature, quality and experience based on the principle of equal pay for equal work; (2) the principle of the Convention is already included in the Private Employment Agency Act S.B. 2017 no. 42; and (3) the Government submitted for adoption to the Parliament the draft Equality of Treatment Act that provides for the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. The Committee stresses that the concept of “work of equal value” included in the Convention permits a broad scope of comparison, including but going beyond equal remuneration for “equal”, “the same” or “similar” work, and also encompasses work that is of an entirely different nature which is nevertheless of equal value. The Committee further notes that Article 28(a) of the Constitution of Suriname, by limiting equal remuneration to “equal work” does not give full expression to the concept of “work of equal value” and is thus narrower than the principle laid down in the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to ensure that the legislation gives full effect to the principle of the Convention. In this regard, it also requests the Government to provide information on whether: (i) Article 28(a) of the Constitution of Suriname could be amended to refer to the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value” as opposed to “equal pay for equal work”; and (ii) whether the Private Employment Agency Act S.B. 2017 no. 42 refers explicitly to the concept of “work of equal value”, as enshrined by the Convention. The Committee further requests the Government to report on any developments in relation to the examination and possible adoption of the draft Equality of Treatment Act. In this regard, it also invites the Government to include in its legislation a definition of the concept of “remuneration” for the purpose of the application of the principle of “equal remuneration for work of equal value”, that encompasses all the elements included in Article (1)(a) of the Convention.

Article 2. Measures to promote equal remuneration. Collective agreements and minimum wages. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government on the methods in place for determining remuneration in the country. In particular, the Committee notes that for the private sector, rates of remuneration are generally determined by individual contracts or in collective agreements establishing scales of remuneration, and that the eighty companies that have registered collective agreements apply the principle. The Government further indicates that the recently adopted Minimum Wage Act, no 101 of 2019 provides for the establishment of a Wage Council responsible for advising the Government on the setting of a general minimum wage or of sectoral minimum wages. The Government specifies however that the Wage Council is not yet operating. For the public sector, the Government indicates that workers are paid according to the remuneration scale established under the FISO (Function Information System for the Civil Service) that is gender neutral and based on the competencies of the civil servants. The Government specifies that the principle of the Convention is considered to be imbedded in the FISO system. The Committee stresses that the fixing of minimum wages can make an important contribution to the application of the principle of equal remuneration, but that rates should be fixed based on objective criteria, free from gender bias, to ensure that the work in sectors with a high proportion of women is not being undervalued in comparison with sectors in which men are predominantly employed. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the existing collective bargaining agreements setting wages (such as information on the companies or sectors covered, and on whether the agreements refer explicitly to the principle of the Convention); (ii) the activities of the Wage Council (once operational) and whether and how it takes into account the application of the principle in advising the Government on a general or sectoral minimum wages; and (iii) whether the application of the principle of the Convention was taken into account in the establishment of the FISO system.

Article 3. Objective job evaluations. The Committee takes note of the indications in the report of the Government that: (1) wages are principally fixed by collective agreements for the private sector and follow the FISO salary scale for the public sector, and that both systems are based on objective appraisals of the jobs; and (2) there is no general method to promote the objective appraisal of jobs. The Committee stresses that the concept of “equal value” requires some method of measuring and comparing the relative value of different jobs and that a job evaluation is a formal procedure which, through analysing the content of jobs, gives a numerical value to each job. The application of the Convention requires an examination of the respective tasks involved in different jobs, undertaken on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria, (such as skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions) to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. The Committee requests the Government to promote objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed to ensure that formal procedures are established to analyse the content of different jobs, and to give a numerical value to each job based on objective criteria (such as skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions). It further requests the Government: (i) to provide information on the specific criteria used to evaluate the jobs and occupations and set wages by collective agreements, particularly in sectors with a high proportion of women ; and (ii) to provide detailed information on the criteria used to evaluate the jobs covered by the FISO and establish the corresponding salary scale; and (iii), if the draft Equality of Treatment Act is adopted, to indicate whether the new Act requires the conduct of objective job evaluations.

Article 4. Cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations. The Committee notes the Government statement that it consults with workers and employers on labour related issues. More specifically, the Government stresses that all social partners may include specific matters for discussion on the agenda of the Labour Advisory Board. In addition, the Government indicates that social partners will participate in the National Wage Council and that the draft Equality and Treatment Act provides for the establishment of a tripartite National Commission on Equality of Treatment. The Committee notes this information. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the application of the principle of the Convention is currently being addressed by the Labour Advisory Board and to report on the establishment of the National Wage Council and the tripartite National Commission on Equality of Treatment.

Statistics. The Committee notes the indication by the Government that studies and surveys on pay discrimination and the gender pay-gap are needed to determine how the principle is applied in practice. The Government further indicates that the adoption of the draft Workers Registration Act, currently under examination by the Council of Ministers, should facilitate the collection of data to detect inequalities and formulate new legal regulations. The Committee notes that the Gender Vision Policy 2021-2035 confirms that no statistical data are available on the pay gap between men and women and that the improvement of data and information gathering is one of the general strategies identified by the Government. In this regard, the Committee recalls that an analysis of the position and pay of men and women in all job categories, within and between sectors, is required to address fully the remuneration gap between men and women, and that appropriate statistical data need to be collected to undertake an assessment of the nature and extent of the gender pay gap. The Committee requests the Government to collect statistical data disaggregated by sex on the remuneration of workers, classified by branch of economic activity and occupations. The Committee also refers to its general observation adopted in 1998 on the application of Convention for more details on the statistics to be collected to fully assess the application of the principle of the Convention and reminds the Government of the possibility to avail itself of ILO technical assistance in this regard.