Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Guyana (Ratification: 1975)

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum wage. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that a national minimum wage was introduced in 2013 following consultations with the tripartite partners and that the principle of equal remuneration was promoted and ensured regardless of gender. The Committee welcomes the adoption of a national minimum wage as an important means by which the Convention is applied. The Committee asks the Government to indicate if the national minimum wage applies to all workers, including in the public sector. The Committee further asks the Government to provide specific information on any difficulties encountered in the implementation and enforcement of the national minimum wage in certain sectors.

Articles 2(2)(c) and 4. Collective agreements and cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Committee asks the Government to indicate any measures taken to promote the application of the principle of the Convention in the collective bargaining process and on the manner in which it cooperates with the social partners to give effect to the Convention.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee recalls that occupational sex segregation in the labour market leads to an undervaluation of jobs predominantly performed by women. In order to overcome unequal pay due to such occupational segregation it is necessary to compare the relative value of jobs based on objective criteria that are free from gender bias, such as skill, effort, responsibilities and working conditions (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 695). In order to facilitate the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and to ascertain whether jobs done traditionally by women are undervalued in comparison with jobs done traditionally by men, the Committee asks the Government to indicate whether objective job evaluation is undertaken or envisaged in the public and private sectors and, if so, to specify the method and the evaluation criteria used.

Part V of the report form. Statistics. The Committee notes from the report submitted by the Government to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on the Way to Beijing +20 in June 2014 that insufficient sex disaggregated data remains a major obstacle for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, but that measures are being adopted to address this situation. The Committee recalls that appropriate data and statistics are crucial in determining the nature, extent and causes of unequal remuneration, to set priorities and design appropriate measures, to monitor and evaluate the impact of such measures and making any necessary adjustments in order to better promote the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position in the near future to provide statistical data disaggregated by sex on the distribution of men and women in the various economic sectors and occupations, and on their corresponding earnings, in both the public and private sectors.