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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Sri Lanka (Ratification: 1993)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Assessment of the gender pay gap. The Committee asks the Government to provide up-to-date statistical data on the distribution of men and women in the different occupational categories in the various industries and their average level of earnings, as well as any research or studies on the gender pay gap and its underlying causes, including in the informal economy.

Article 2. Equal remuneration in the plantation industry, including palm oil plantations. The Committee recalls the observations made in 2012 by Education International (EI) and the All Ceylon Union of Teachers (ACUT) that there is gender wage discrimination mainly in the plantation industry. The Government reports that there is no wages board for palm oil workers, while the Ministry of Plantation’s progress report of 2013 indicates that oil palm cultivation in Sri Lanka will expand within the next ten years. Recalling that the fixing of minimum wages can make an important contribution to the application of the principle of equal remuneration, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken and progress made in determining minimum wages for palm oil workers, ensuring that men and women receive equal remuneration when performing not only “equal” or “similar” work but also work of “equal value”. The Committee once again asks the Government to provide information, disaggregated by sex, on the number of workers in the various occupations in the plantation industry and the measures taken to address any gender remuneration gap in this industry.

Export processing zones (EPZs). Regarding the process of wage determination in EPZs, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that wages determined by wages boards are applicable to workers in EPZs but companies pay higher wages than the minimum wages. The Government also indicates that it is factually wrong to state that women are concentrated in lower paid occupations. Noting that no data is provided in support of this assertion and recalling that statistical information is crucial in order to permit an adequate evaluation of the nature, and the extent, of any pay differential between men and women, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the distribution of men and women and their corresponding level of wages in the various occupational categories (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, higher skilled and managerial occupations) in enterprises in EPZs. The Government is also asked to indicate how the principle of the Convention is taken into account in the process of wage determination, in particular, with a view to ensuring that the jobs predominantly performed by women are not being undervalued compared to those predominantly performed by men in EPZs.

Wage Policy. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that a National Pay Commission has recently been established to evaluate the existing wage policy and to introduce a new wage policy applicable to both the public and private sector. The Government also indicates that ILO technical assistance is requested in this regard. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the progress made in evaluating the wage policy and designing a new wage policy applicable to the public and private sectors. The Committee asks the Government to take steps, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, to ensure that the new wage policy implements the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, through the use of objective job evaluation methods.

Awareness raising. The Committee asks the Government, in cooperation with the workers’ and employers’ organizations, to disseminate information widely and raise awareness among workers, employers, their organizations, as well as labour inspectors and other officials, of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, in particular of the concepts of equal value and objective job evaluation.