Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2001, Publicación: 90ª reunión CIT (2002)

Convenio sobre igualdad de remuneración, 1951 (núm. 100) - Chequia (Ratificación : 1993)

The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in its report and the annexed documents.

1. The Committee notes that Act. No. 217/2000 of 27 June limits the understanding of same work or work of equal value to the same employer. Recalling that the Convention extends the principle of equal remuneration for work of the same value beyond the same establishment or employer, and requires that comparisons be made as wide as the scope at which wages are set, the Committee asks the Government to include the scope at which wages are set and hopes that comparisons can extend to this breadth.

2. The Committee notes the information submitted by the Government stating that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has already developed a methodology to evaluate various types of jobs, which introduces criteria to assess the equality of remuneration. The Committee observes that its application will only start once the Public Service Act has been adopted, which is still under preparation. The Government indicates that this methodology will be applied as from January 2002 at the earliest and although it is applicable only to state employees it will be available for the settlement of conflicts in the private sector by analogy. The Committee asks the Government to provide in the next report a copy of the methodology, including the criteria and weighting used, and to also include information on its implementation.

3. Relevant to its previous comments referring to the measures that the Government has taken to protect women from reduction of wages as a result of pregnancy, motherhood or family responsibilities, the Committee notes that the Government has proposed an amendment concerning the benefits during pregnancy and maternity. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the adoption of this amendment and to send a copy as soon as it is adopted.

4. The Committee notes the Government’s statement confirming that the difference between men’s and women’s earnings continues to persist and is even slightly worsening. The statistical data provided by the Government for 2000 show that women’s average earnings are 71.86 per cent of men’s with women earning in the private sector 73.97 per cent of men’s salaries and only 70.74 per cent in the public sector. If analysed by sectors, the biggest earnings gap is found in the banking and insurance sector where women’s earnings are 46.38 per cent less than those of men’s; in trade the difference is 42.5 per cent; in hotels and restaurants 37.66 per cent; in health and social services 33.69 per cent; in industry 31.37 per cent; in education 33.69 per cent; and in administration 26.39 per cent less than men’s. The Government states that the difference between men’s and women’s working hours and work content has an impact on the different earning levels of remuneration. While women have in general higher education levels than men do, women have a higher participation in non-manual jobs, except professional and management workers on the one hand and non-skilled workers on the other. At the managerial level there are more men than women. For example, men have a dominant position in the three highest grades and only 12 per cent of women are found in the highest grade. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures it has taken or envisages to ensure that women workers have equal access to higher qualified and better paid jobs and to promote their access into non-traditional occupations.

5. The Committee notes that by a resolution of 1998 the Government invited the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to coordinate all action in the area of equal opportunities for men and women with the cooperation of other ministries. The Government states that that the national action plan has been reviewed in June 2000, and among the measures adopted in the action plan relevant to the principle of equal remuneration, special attention was to be given to: (1) the inspection activities regarding the observation of labour legislation; and (2) the promotion of such principle by means of negotiations in the Council for Economic and Social Agreement. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the activities that the Council for Economic and Social Agreement ("tripartite") carries out in order to ensure the principle of equal remuneration for men and women in collective agreements or during the collective bargaining process.

6. The Committee notes that no specific labour inspections were conducted in 1998 nor during 1999 regarding the application of discrimination provisions on the basis of sex, and that no labour offices registered cases of complaints on wage discrimination. The Government expects that with the amendments of the legislation, in particular of the Labour Code and of the Act on wages, remuneration for stand-by and average earnings, and the Act on pay, remuneration for stand-by in budgetary and certain other organizations and Bodies, there are to be changes in relation to the presentation of complaints. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures it is taking in order to publicize the recent amendments in the labour legislation so both women and men know their rights and that they are entitled to enforce and defend them. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the labour inspection activities and reports as soon as they are available, and court decisions relevant to the application of this Convention.

7. The Committee notes the further documentation provided by the Government in 2001 and it will return to this information once the translation of this documentation into one of the official languages of the ILO is available.