Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Philippines (Ratification: 1953)

The Committee notes with interest the adoption of Memorandum Order No. 258 establishing an Interagency Task Force for Strategic Planning and Research for Human Rights Protection. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged by the Task Force related to the application of the Convention.

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report and attached documentation, including a copy of the 1990 Rules implementing Republic Act No. 6725 of 12 May 1989. The Committee notes that under section 5(a) of the Rules, the payment of lower compensation or benefits to a female employee compared to a male employee for work of equal value is denoted as an act of discrimination. While observing that section 135 of the Act does encompass the principle of the Convention, the Committee notes that under section 5(a) of the Rules "... work of equal value refers to activities, jobs, tasks, duties or services ... which are identical or substantially identical". As this definition would appear to restrict the application of equal remuneration for men and women workers to jobs which are essentially the same -- a concept which is narrower than that required by the Convention -- the Committee recommends that a phrase be added to this provision of the Rules to indicate that work of a different nature, but of "equal value", is also covered. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the application of this provision, including any material that may have been prepared and distributed to employers and to workers and their representatives to explain and publicize the requirements of Act No. 6725 and its implementing Rules.

2. The Committee notes the provisions of the Wage Rationalization Act (Republic Act No. 6727 of 1989) whereby the State has declared a policy of rationalizing the fixing of minimum wages and of promoting productivity-improving and gain-sharing measures to ensure a decent standard of living for workers and their families; of guaranteeing labour a just share in the fruits of production; of enhancing employment generation in the countryside through the dispersal of industry; and of allowing business and industry reasonable returns on investment, expansion and growth (section 2). The Committee also notes from the same section that the State is to promote collective bargaining as the primary means of setting wages and other terms and conditions of employment and that minimum wage rates are to be adjusted, whenever necessary, in a fair and equitable manner, considering existing regional disparities in the cost of living and other socio-economic factors and the national economic and development plans. The Committee requests the Government to furnish with its next report, copies of any collective agreements setting wage rates in sectors in which the percentage of women is at least equal to that of men, together with information on the respective numbers of women and men covered by the agreements and their distribution among different jobs and grades. In its report, the Government states that the Wage Rationalization Act aims to promote the objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed and the cooperation of the employers' and workers' organizations concerned. While noting that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has not yet adopted any method to promote an objective appraisal of jobs, the Committee requests the Government to provide some indication concerning the extent to which employers and workers have embarked upon fixing wage rates in collective agreements on the basis of job evaluations. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide copies of the study on pay equity planned to be undertaken by the Bureau of Working Conditions of the DOLE, which it mentions in its report.