Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Saudi Arabia (Ratification: 1978)

Further to the comments which it has been making for many years, the Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that no legal or other measures have been taken relating to the application of the Convention.

1. The Committee recalls that there is no legislative provision which prohibits wage discrimination on the basis of sex or which establishes equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value. Nor does there exist a system of remuneration which is established or recognized by the national legislation, or by collective agreements. The Committee notes that the Government once again repeats its previous statements that the Convention is applied in the private sector by section 8 of the Labour Code (which provides that the contractor is obliged to provide workers in his service with the same rights and advantages, including wages, as those given by the initial employer to his workers), through observance of the legislative principle of equality and equity between workers for equivalent work, which is an inviolable right by virtue of the supremacy of the Shariah (which constitutes the fundamental law) which preaches equality between individuals without distinction based on, among others, sex, and whose principles constitute legislative injunctions which attenuate any shortcomings in the Labour Code. The Government refers once again to the decision of the Higher Commission for the Settlement of Disputes, according to which a worker can claim equal treatment as compared to colleagues only when circumstances and qualifications are equal.

2. The Committee notes that the Government considers that the wording of Article 2 of the Convention is sufficiently flexible to allow it to select the means which it wishes to use to give effect to the Convention and that the provisions of the legislation which are in force are sufficient in this respect. It also considers that equal remuneration is fully applied without difficulties in practice on the basis of equal qualifications, experience and conditions of work. However, the Government does not supply information (such as wage scales, statistics on minimum and average earnings, the distribution of men and women in the workforce, texts of collective agreements) enabling the Committee to evaluate how this principle is applied in practice.

In its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, the Committee emphasized in paragraph 253 that it is "hard to accept statements suggesting that the application of the Convention has not given rise to difficulties or that full effect is given to the Convention, without further details being provided. By its nature, by the way in which it develops, and as a result of the equivocal character of discrimination with regard to remuneration, the application of the principle will necessarily unearth difficulties". Furthermore, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the terms of Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention which refer expressly to "work of equal value", the concepts of which were developed by the Committee in paragraphs 44 to 78 of its 1986 General Survey. As regards the choice of the means adopted to apply the principle contained in the Convention, the Committee notes that none of these means has been used by the Government to give full effect to the Convention. Furthermore, it considers that the Government's interpretation by analogy of the existing legal provisions does not suffice to guarantee that equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value is respected in all sectors.

3. The Committee requests the Government to re-examine the situation in the light of the above comments and to take the necessary measures to give effect to the Convention, particularly in the private sector. This could be done, for example, by inserting in the Labour Code a specific clause requiring equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, or by a special decision to this effect by the Higher Commission for the Settlement of Disputes so as to impose expressly on employers in the private sector the obligation to apply the principle set out in the Convention. The Committee trusts that the Government will be in a position to indicate in its next report that progress has been made in this respect. The Committee reminds the Government that the Office is at its disposal for any technical assistance that might help overcome the difficulties in the application of the Convention.

4. The Committee is addressing a direct request to the Government on other points.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 81st Session.]