Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1990, publiée 77ème session CIT (1990)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report.

2. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it noted that the labour legislation guarantees equal remuneration for men and women for equal work, but does not appear to guarantee equal remuneration for work which may be of a different nature but is of equal value, as provided in the Convention. The Government has supplied a detailed reply, which refers to various legal texts, including sections 3, 5(XI), 56, 86, 133 and 164 of the Federal Labour Act and to article 4 of the Constitution. The Government states that taken together these provisions are equivalent to protection of the principle set out in the Convention. The Government also refers to the legal tradition of equal remuneration for men and women. In addition, the Government states that it has not been considered necessary to legislate in favour of equal remuneration for men and women since there is no problem of inequality. For the same reasons, the Government states, there are no statistics on this subject and the Labour Inspectorate has not noted any violation of this principle.

The Committee has made a detailed examination of the legislation referred to by the Government. It notes, as it has in previous comments, that section 86 of the Federal Labour Act provides for equal remuneration for equal work that is of the same duration, performed in the same location and with the same efficiency. The Committee also notes that sections 5(XI) and 56 of the above Act refer to equal remuneration for equal work and that the other provisions that it mentions refer more generally to the principle of equal treatment. It therefore appears that there is no protection in law of the principle of equal remuneration for work that may be of a different nature but is of equal value. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention and on the progress achieved in this respect.

3. The Committee notes the Government's indications that, in order to determine occupational minimum wages, the National Minimum Wage Board makes an assessment of each of the jobs for which this type of statutory minimum wage exists and takes into the account the skills, strength, responsibility and conditions under which the work is performed. A score is established in points for each job, and is arrived at on the basis of factors that are unrelated to the sex of the worker who performs the job; in the event of two different jobs (of the 86 selected) being given the same score, the minimum wage that is applicable is also the same. The Committee also notes the Decision by the Council of Representatives of the National Minimum Wage Board, sent with the report, which fixes general and occupational minimum wages, that have been in force since 1 January 1989, in which the definitions and descriptions of the activities in the various occupations, jobs and special types of work are set out, together with the minimum wages of workers without distinction on grounds of sex. The Committee recalls that the Convention provides for equal remuneration for men and women workers, not only as regards minimum rates, but for any payment made by the employer to the worker and rising out of the worker's employment, and that equal remuneration is to be guaranteed not only for men and women workers employed in the same category, but also, more generally, to men and women workers who perform work of equal value which, nevertheless, may be of a different nature. In this connection, the Committee wishes to refer to the explanations given in paragraphs 20 to 23 and 44 to 70 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, in which the Committee sets out the concepts of equality. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the activities, jobs and sectors of economic activity in which there is a concentration of women workers.

4. The Committee notes the collective agreements supplied with the report in which equal wages are set out for men and women. The Committee also notes the Government's indication that in the case of the collective agreement concluded in 1988 by Angelus, S.A., and the Association of Manual and Non-manual Workers in the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Similar and Allied Industries, which was also supplied with its report, the wage table shows that women receive higher wages than men. In this respect, the Committee refers to the explanations given in paragraphs 25 to 27 and 226 to 240 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, in which it indicates the scope of the State's obligation to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value and where it recalls the principle of equal remuneration in collective agreements. The Committee also notes the Legislative Contract for the Wool Branch of the Textile Industry, which was supplied with the report, and which will remain in force from 21 January 1989 to 20 January 1991. The wage table in this Contract illustrates that the jobs that are indicated are to be performed by workers in general without distinction on grounds of sex. The Committee requests the Governent to supply information on the difference in the wages received by women and men in the Angelus S.A. enterprise.

5. The Committee also notes the Government's statement that the application of the principle of equal remuneration in the public sector is controlled by the General Directorate of the Civil Service of the Secretariat of Planning and the Federal Budget, which has the responsibility of proposing standards relating to job classifications, wage tables, systems of wage scales, the payment of remuneration, benefits, personal services, personnel administration and development, and the operation of the information and registration systems, in accordance with section 17(II) of the Internal Regulations of the Secretariat of Planning and the Federal Budget. The Committee requests the Government to supply detailed information (regulations, collective labour agreements, statistical data, general wage scales, etc.) on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to promote or to guarantee the application of the principle of remuneration as set out in the Convention as regards the wages that are actually paid in the public and private sectors.

The Committee also once again requests the Government to supply information on the activities of the labour inspectorate for the purpose of ensuring observance of the principle of equal remuneration, and on cases in which the wages payable to women are below the minimum legal wage, and to attach, in so far as possible, copies of surveys, studies and reports on offences.