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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Togo (Ratification: 1983)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Assessment of pay gaps. The Committee recalls that it is particularly important to have full and reliable statistics on the remuneration of men and women in order to develop, implement and evaluate the measures taken to eliminate wage gaps. The Committee requests the Government to make the necessary efforts to collect and analyse such data disaggregated by sex, on the various sectors of economic activity, including the public sector, and on the various occupational categories, and to provide this data in its next report. It once again asks the Government to provide information on any specific measures taken with a view to reducing the gender pay gap, including in the context of the national policy on gender equity and gender equality adopted in 2011, and particularly the measures taken to address the underlying causes of wage inequalities (occupational segregation, prejudices regarding women’s career aspirations and professional abilities and the role of women and men in society).

Article 2. Application of the principle by means of collective agreements. The Committee notes the signing, on 20 December 2011, of the new inter occupational collective agreement of Togo (CCIT). It nevertheless observes that the social partners have not taken this opportunity to include provisions reflecting the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Clause 25 of the new CCIT provides that “under equal conditions of work, skill and output, wages shall be equal for all workers, irrespective of their origin, sex, age or status”. Clause 41 of the collective agreement for the Togo export processing zone, adopted in October 2012, and the clauses on the “principle of remuneration” of various sectoral collective agreements (mining, road transport, commerce, construction and public works, etc.) contain identical provisions. The Committee considers that, by limiting equal remuneration to jobs involving equal conditions of work, skill and output, these provisions establish, in terms of remuneration, a more restrictive principle than that of the Convention. It recalls in this regard that work can be performed under different conditions, require different skills or produce different outputs and still in overall terms be of equal value and that therefore the Convention provides that they shall be equally remunerated. Moreover, the criterion of “output” may lead to the creation of different wage groups based on the average output of each sex. The Committee also wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that experience has shown that insistence on factors such as “equal conditions of work, skill and output” can be used as a pretext for paying women lower wages than men (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 677). The Committee requests the Government to take measures to raise awareness among workers’ and employers’ organizations of the principle of the Convention, particularly the concept of “work of equal value”, and to encourage them to consider revising clause 25 of the CCIT, as well as the identical provisions in sectoral collective agreements, so that they reflect the principle that is set out in the Convention and enshrined in the Labour Code (sections 103(7) and 118).

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes that the CCIT contains occupational classifications in a schedule and a new reference scale establishing the basic wages for each occupational category. It notes that, in this collective agreement, many occupational categories are defined solely, or almost solely, on the basis of the skills, knowledge and diplomas required. The Committee recalls that the concept of “work of equal value” involves the use of a method that allows the relative value of different jobs to be measured and compared. Emphasis is placed on the overall value of the work performed. Tasks should therefore be examined on the basis of perfectly objective and non discriminatory criteria, such as skills and qualifications, the effort required, responsibilities and working conditions, as such objective evaluation is crucial to eliminating any risk of undervaluing jobs traditionally held by women. The Committee requests the Government to take measures to raise awareness among the social partners and to train them in objective job evaluation methods. The Government is also asked to indicate how, when establishing the various occupational categories and fixing the corresponding wage scales through collective bargaining, workers’ and employers’ organizations ensure that this process does not lead to the undervaluation of so-called “female” jobs and, consequently, jobs primarily held by women.

Minimum wage. The Committee welcomes the increase in the guaranteed inter-occupational minimum wage (SMIG) and the guaranteed agricultural minimum wage (SMAG) from 28,000 to 35,000 Togolese franc (CFA) as from 1 May 2012 by the Order of 11 May 2012 on the Revision of Guaranteed Minimum Wages. The Committee considers that a uniform national minimum wage system helps to raise the earnings of the lowest paid. As there are more women in low-paid jobs, this type of system has an influence on the relationship between men and women’s wages and on reducing the gender pay gap. The Committee asks the Government to provide any available information on the impact of the SMIG and SMAG on men and women’s wages and on reducing the gender pay gap.

Enforcement. In the absence of information in the Government’s report, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the following points:

• (i) the specific measures taken to raise the awareness among workers, employers and their organizations of the relevant legislation and to reinforce the specific means available to labour inspectors, judges and other public officials to detect and address cases of inequalities in remuneration between men and women;
• (ii) training activities organized or planned for labour inspectors and other officials of the labour administration on the principle of the Convention and, in particular, on the concept of “work of equal value”; and
• (iii) any administrative or judicial decisions on gender discrimination in remuneration.