Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 1997)

Assessment of the gender pay gap. The Committee recalls that in 2007 women earned 80.3 per cent of men’s monthly income (average and median), and that the gender wage gap was highest in the occupational group of service and sales workers (47 per cent) and legislators, senior officials and managers (39.4 per cent). The Committee notes the Government’s indication that according to the Central Statistical Office’s Continuous Sample Survey of the Population for the year 2009, women dominated the lower income groups, while men dominated the higher income groups; the total number of persons earning less than Trinidad Tobago dollars (TTD) 500 per month is 5,392, two-thirds of whom were women. Within the income brackets of TTD500–999, TTD1,000–1,499 and TTD1,500–1,999, the majority were women, while men fell within the higher income brackets between TTD2,000–2,999 and TTD15,000 or over. The Government also indicates that approximately 21 per cent of men were employed in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing, while approximately 23 per cent of women were employed in the wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and the hotel industry. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to address the persistent gender pay gap, and the occupational segregation of men and women. It also asks the Government to continue to provide detailed statistical information on the earnings of men and women according to occupational group and industry, as well as on an hourly basis, if possible.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Legislation. Recalling that the Equal Opportunity Act, 2000, contains no specific provisions regarding equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and noting that the Government provides no response to its previous requests in this regard, the Committee urges the Government to take steps to give full legislative expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and to provide information in this regard.

Collective agreements. The Committee previously asked the Government to provide information on the progress made in removing sex discriminatory clauses from collective agreements. Noting that the Government once again has not replied to this request, the Committee urges the Government to provide this information in its next report. It also asks the Government to provide the report of the Joint Working Party on Reclassification regarding all the jobs in the bargaining unit represented by the National Union of Government and Federated Workers, which has still not been received.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.