Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee notes the information sent by the Government in its report which includes statistical data provided by the General Labour Inspectorate, and comments from the National Federation of Unions of State Workers of Guatemala (FENASTEG) and from the Union of Workers of Guatemala (UNSITRAGUA) on matters relating to the application of the Convention.

1. The Committee notes the information supplied by FENASTEG to the effect that there is discrimination between employees who perform the same tasks but in different institutions of the public sector. It also notes the information sent by UNSITRAGUA to the effect that in practice, equal remuneration is not ensured. UNSITRAGUA cites collective agreements on working conditions approved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, which provide for different remuneration for the same activity in several enterprises, industries or geographical areas, and an agreement concluded with the Ministry of Education providing for the payment of a wage to teaching, administrative and service staff employed under the Educational Programme for Formal Teaching of Faith and Joy, which amounts to 90 per cent of the wage paid for the same jobs in official schools. UNSITRAGUA also alleges that in the agricultural sector wages amounting to 50 per cent of the minimum wage are paid. The Committee recalls that the principle laid down in the Convention is that of equal remuneration for male and female workers for work of equal value, which also closely relates to occupational segregation. The Committee would appreciate information on the manner in which the practices referred to by the abovementioned organizations of workers can be deemed to constitute discrimination on grounds of sex.

2. The Committee notes the information sent by the Government in its report to the effect that cooperation with organizations of workers and employers takes place by means of dissemination of the standards established to ensure compliance with the Convention, and that advice is provided on its application. The Committee would be grateful if in its next report the Government would provide detailed information on the activities it is carrying out, specifying, for example, the manner in which the dissemination and advice campaign is being conducted. Referring to earlier comments, the Committee asks the Government to inform it of the number of complaints filed under section 89 of the Labour Code and the resulting administrative or judicial decisions, if any.

3. In its earlier comments the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the activities of the labour inspectorate. It observes that the statistical information provided by the Government in its report does not specify whether the inspections or cases cited have to do with equal remuneration. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the number of inspection visits carried out in connection with equal remuneration between men and women for the same work or work of equal value, the number of infringements recorded and the results, including the penalties imposed.

4. The Committee again notes that the Government’s report contains no information on the average remuneration of men and women in Guatemala. It trusts that in its next report the Government will provide statistical information, as requested in the general observation of 1998 on this Convention, on the public sector and the private sector, in particular with a view to an evaluation of the wage differential between men and women, the status of women, particularly where there is vertical segregation in employment which obstructs women’s access to higher level and better paid jobs, or in sectors such as export processing where there is a greater concentration of women.