Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Nepal (Ratification: 1976)

Article 2(b). Minimum wages. The Committee recalls its previous comments concerning the minimum wage notice for tea estate workers published on 15 August 2006 which establishes monthly minimum wages according to the category of workers (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled). The Committee reiterates its request to the Government to indicate how, in practice, workers are assigned to the different skill levels. Please also provide information on the number of women and men that are employed in the different wage categories. The Government is further asked to continue to provide information on the work of the wage-fixing committee and to provide any new minimum wage decisions.

Article 2(c). Collective agreements. Please provide examples of collective agreements recently concluded, if any, that determine remuneration for men and women workers covered by the agreement.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Government indicates that work is being compared and measured, inter alia, “in terms of occupational categories” and “weight or physical effort”. In its report, the Government also states that in the private sector, it is the employer who classifies the position of the workers on the basis of the production process and that the classification should be notified to the labour office concerned. In this regard, the Committee previously expressed concern that assigning wage levels according to occupational categories, without an analysis of the content of the occupations concerned on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria, may lead to discriminatory undervaluation of occupations traditionally dominated by women. The same may occur when physical effort is taken into account, while psychological and mental effort or manual dexterity are not being considered sufficiently (see the 2006 general observation). The Committee asks the Government to provide examples of classifications of workers determined at the enterprise level, as notified to the labour offices. It also asks the Government to indicate whether any measures are being taken or envisaged, in cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations, to assist employers to classify their employees on the basis of objective criteria that are free from gender-bias, as a means of promoting the application of the Convention.

Enforcement. Noting the general information provided by the Government concerning the enforcement of labour legislation, the Committee asks the Government to provide more specific information as to whether any violations of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value have been identified and addressed by the competent authorities, or whether any complaints in this regard have been received.

Statistical information. Noting that no statistical information regarding remuneration, disaggregated by sex, has been supplied, the Committee asks the Government once again to provide in its next report any statistical data available relating to the level of earnings of men and women.