Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Bulgaria (Ratification: 1955)

1. In its previous direct request, the Committee asked the Government to indicate whether the principle of the Convention was guaranteed in any legislative text or regulation. In this regard, the Committee had noted the repeal of section 243 of the Labour Code which, though not in full conformity with the Convention, had been the only legislative provision dealing with equal pay. The Committee notes the Government's reference to article 6, paragraph 2, of the 1991 Constitution -- which prohibits any restriction of rights or privileges based on various grounds, including sex -- and to section 244 of the Labour Code empowering the Council of Ministers to determine the minimum wage. However, as neither of these provisions provides a sufficient guarantee against wage discrimination as provided for by the Convention, the Committee hopes that the Government will contemplate giving legislative expression to the principle of the Convention.

2. The Committee notes that in sectors in which wages are determined by the State, observance of the principle of equal pay for equal work is guaranteed by virtue of the Council of Ministers' Decree No. 68 of 1996, which provides for equal wages for all posts of the same level. While noting the statistics provided with the report, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the percentage of men and women employed in those branches of industry where wages are determined by the State.

3. On the basis of the statistics supplied by the Government, the Committee notes that women's average wage was 72.7 per cent of that of men's for 1995 and 70.3 per cent for the third quarter of 1996. The Committee notes the Government's comment that the average wage differences between men and women are due mainly to the higher pay received by men in jobs with arduous and unhealthy conditions, from which women are prohibited from employment by provisions aimed at safeguarding their health and fertility. The report also states that the lower average wage rates of women are due to their high representation in branches of industry with relatively lower wage rates, such as textiles and clothing, education and health. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the extent to which attempts have been made in the wage-fixing systems to ensure that factors which are more likely to be present in the jobs undertaken by women (such as repetitive work, maintaining certain postures, dexterity) are identified and evaluated to balance those factors (such as dirty or hazardous working conditions and physical strength) which evidently account for the higher wages received by men. As the Government has acknowledged, the weighting given to typical factors in male jobs has an adverse effect on women's wages, particularly in situations where women are prohibited, or restricted, from undertaking certain jobs. In its 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, the Committee noted that some of the factors used to evaluate jobs tend to favour men over women and that, moreover, some factors which are more likely to be present in the jobs undertaken by women may not be identified and therefore not valued in job evaluation schemes, as is often the case with caring skills and responsibility, human relations skills and manual dexterity.

4. The Committee notes the statistics for 1995 and 1996 (first half) supplied by the Government on the number of violations detected and penalized by the General Labour Inspectorate. Please indicate how many of these violations concern equal remuneration between men and women.