Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Barbados (Ratification: 1974)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report, due since 2018, has not been received. In light of its urgent appeal launched to the Government in 2021, the Committee proceeds with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal.

Article 2(2)(b) of the Convention. Minimum wages. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the adoption of the Minimum Wage (National and Sectoral Minimum Wage) Order, 2021, which sets new general minimum wage rates and minimum overtime rates at both the national level and at the sectoral level for security guards. The Committee notes that the national minimum hourly rate of pay is set at 8.5 Barbadian dollars (BBD) and BBD9.25 for security guards. The Committee recalls that in the case of minimum wage fixing at the sector level, special attention is needed in the design or adjustment of sectoral minimum wage schemes to ensure that the rates fixed are free from gender bias, and in particular that certain skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 683). While reiterating its concern at the absence of a Government report, the Committee takes due note of the Minimum Wage (National and Sectoral Minimum Wage) Order, 2021 and requests the Government to:

• (i)indicate how it is ensured that the minimum wage rates for specified groups of employees or sectors are fixed, based on objective criteria, free from gender bias, and that work in sectors with a high proportion of women, including domestic work, is not being undervalued in comparison with sectors in which men are predominantly employed; and
• (ii)provide copies of any new Minimum Wage Orders adopted for specific groups or sectors.Recalling that, in 2015, the number of women domestic workers was almost four times that of men, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken to adjust the minimum wages of domestic workers taking into account the principle of the Convention so as to ensure that their work is not being undervalued and rates of remuneration are determined without discrimination based on sex.

Article 2(2)(c). Collective agreements. Recalling its previous comments, the Committee reiterates its request to the Government to: (i) take steps, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, to systematically ensure that gender-neutral terminology is used in defining the various jobs and classifications in collective agreements, and that collective agreements promote the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and (ii) provide information on progress made in this regard.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. With reference to its previous comment, the Committee reiterates its request to the Government to provide information on:

• (i)measures taken to ensure that job evaluation methods used by the unionized and non-unionized companies, in both the public and private sectors, are free from gender bias, including with respect to the selection and weighing of factors for comparison; and
• (ii)any such objective job evaluation methods used by the Minimum Wages Board to design or adjust sectoral or occupational minimum wage schemes, including for domestic workers.

Statistics. The Committee has recalled on several occasions the importance of the regular collection of statistics, disaggregated by sex, in order to undertake an assessment of the nature, extent and evolution of the gender pay gap. It notes with regret that the Labour Force Survey 2021 still does not provide sex disaggregated data on the wage levels in the various sectors and occupations. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide information, disaggregated by sex, on the wage levels in the various sectors and occupations.