Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Belgium (Ratification: 1952)

Measures to address the gender wage gap. New legislation. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Act of 22 April 2012, the aim of which is to tackle the wage gap between men and women. The Act provides for the following: an obligation for enterprises with more than three employees to disaggregate by gender the data to be included in the social balance sheet; an obligation to negotiate measures to tackle the wage gap at inter-occupational and sectoral levels; and the organization of mandatory consultation in enterprises with 50 employees or more with a view to producing a “gender-neutral remuneration policy”. This requires a detailed analysis every two years of the structure of remuneration in the enterprise so as to establish, if the staff representatives deem it necessary, an action plan setting out specific objectives indicating the areas they are to cover and the instruments for obtaining them, a deadline for implementation and a system for monitoring it. The Act also provides for the possibility in enterprises with 50 employees or more of appointing a mediator to assist the employer and the workers in applying the measures to tackle the wage gap and to hear workers’ grievances concerning wage inequality. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the application of the Act of 22 April 2012 in practice, at sectoral and enterprise level, including any implementing texts and provide details on the appointment of mediators and the outcomes achieved, and on any difficulties encountered in giving effect to the Act.

Articles 2(2) and 3 of the Convention. Collective agreements. Job evaluation. With regard to the implementation of collective agreement No. 25ter of 9 July 2008, which provides that all sectors and enterprises must review and adapt their job classification systems, the Committee notes the information from the Government that certain joint committees have reviewed their job classifications. The Committee notes in this connection that according to the Act of 22 April 2012, the social partners’ inter-occupational agreement and sectoral collective agreements must contain measures to tackle the gender wage gap, in particular by making job classification systems gender neutral. Furthermore, the job appraisal classification systems developed in joint committees must be submitted to the General Directorate of Collective Labour Relations of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue for scrutiny of the gender neutrality of the systems. This is particularly so in the light of collective agreement No. 25 of 15 October 1975 on equal remuneration for men and women workers, and the checklist “Gender neutrality in job classification and evaluation”, produced by the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men (IEFH). If this scrutiny brings to light any elements that are not gender neutral, the joint committee concerned draws up a plan of action to remove them within two years. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the following points:

• (i) the conclusion of collective agreements and the content of the inter-occupational agreement to tackle the wage gap between men and women;
• (ii) details of the monitoring of job classifications by joint committees and the adoption of gender-neutral job classifications, and the number and content of any action plans produced by joint committees;
• (iii) the dissemination and the use made in practice of the tools developed for enterprises and the social partners, such as the job classification guide and the checklist “Gender neutrality in job classification and evaluation” produced by the IEFH, and the measures taken to provide training for the persons concerned.

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