Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Belgium (Ratification: 1952)

The Committee notes the detailed information supplied by the Government in its reports and the attached documentation, in particular the decisions handed down recently by the courts and tribunals on the subject of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

1. The Committee notes with interest that a good conduct code for job assessment was prepared and issued in May 1995. The code, designed as a guide to increase the awareness of negotiators, includes general recommendations on how to translate the minimum rules in practice (social concertation, job descriptions, job classification and determination of job hierarchy) along with specific recommendations for employers, trade union organizations and workers in regard to their role and responsibility in the overall process. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would send with its next report information on the application of these recommendations and the progress made, particularly as a result of the code, in the adoption of gender neutral job classifications.

2. The Committee notes the indications concerning the revision (already carried out and in progress) of the job classification systems in a number of sectors (hotels, restaurants and cafés; textiles and clothing industry; timber and construction; food; health care). Please provide information on the progress of the revision work on job classification systems which is ongoing and contemplated and copies of the collective labour agreements using the new classifications, revised on the basis of non-discriminatory criteria.

3. The Committee notes with interest Opinion No. 8 of 24 May 1996 on equal remuneration for men and women of the Council on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. The Opinion covers the factors which are at the origin of the wage gap between men and women such as segregation of trades, under-assessment of women's work and the access of women to senior posts and proposes a number of measures which should be taken by the various actors who take part in wage fixing with a view to eradicating this wage gap. Among these measures are strengthening supervision by the inspection of social laws on the question of equal remuneration; making available to workers clear and comprehensible judicial doctrine concerning, in particular, the definition of equal remuneration and the burden of proof; the institution of a conciliation body to hear first complaints and an independent body of experts competent to supply opinions to the judicial bodies; and an annual report from the Ministry of Equal Opportunity Policy regarding the number of complaints, cases withdrawn or discontinued, amicable settlements, and legal cases and their results concerning equal remuneration. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply with its next report information on the application of these proposals and their impact in reducing the still considerable gap between men's and women's salaries, especially in the private sector, where women labourers still earn 75 per cent of male labourers' earnings and non-manual women workers earn 67 per cent of the salaries of their male counterparts.

4. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the measures taken to apply the decision of 17 February 1993 of the Court of Justice of the European Communities concerning the pre-pension indemnities granted under a collective agreement, which deprives women over 60 years old, but not men, of the possibility of receiving a supplementary pre-pension allowance (according to this decision, the allowance constitutes remuneration). Noting that the Government indicates that in the very near future it will submit a solution to put an end to discrimination in respect of pre-pension payments and that it has committed itself, within the framework of reform and modernization of the social security system, to achieve equality of treatment between men and women in regard to pensionable age and methods of calculation, the Committee requests the Government to supply it, in the framework of reports on application of Convention No. 111 and the Conventions relating to social security, with information regarding the effects of the social security reform on the eradication of all discrimination on the basis of sex on the subject of pre-pension payments as well as of age and the means of calculating retirement pensions.

5. The Committee notes with interest the 1991-92 activity report of the Positive Action Unit of the Ministry of Employment and Labour and the copies of the collective labour agreement concerning positive action in favour of women in a number of enterprises. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply, with its next report on the application of Convention No. 111, the latest annual activity report of the Positive Action Unit and information on the adoption and implementation by enterprises of positive action plans, particularly through the conclusion and application of collective agreements concerning the initiation of positive action with a view to promoting equality between women and men in regard to access to vocational training and employment, conditions of employment, including equal remuneration for work of equal value.