Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2017, publiée 107ème session CIT (2018)

Convention (n° 100) sur l'égalité de rémunération, 1951 - Burundi (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Confederation of Burundi (COSYBU), which were received on 26 November 2015.

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum wages. The Committee recalls that a uniform national system of minimum wages contributes to increasing the income of the lowest-paid workers and that women often predominate in low-waged jobs. The establishment of a minimum wage system therefore has an impact on the link between men’s and women’s wages and also on reducing the gender pay gap. In this regard, the Committee refers to its comments on the application of the Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26), in which it requests the Government to “take all necessary measures in order to reactivate the minimum wage-fixing process in full consultation with the social partners and proceed to the readjustment of the inter-occupational guaranteed minimum wage”. Recalling that the fixing of minimum wages can make an important contribution to the application of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on any further developments in this regard.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation and classification. The Committee notes that the COSYBU indicates in its observations that when wages are fixed, occupations are not subjected to any comparison, and the social partners are not associated with the study on the classification of jobs that is currently in progress as part of the national administrative reform policy. The COSYBU also notes the Government’s indication in its report that a national wage policy is being formulated and that it provides for a classification of jobs. The Committee recalls that job evaluation is a formal procedure which, through analysing the content of jobs, gives a numerical value to each job. There are different methods of job evaluation. Such methods analyse and classify jobs on the basis of objective factors such as skills/qualifications, effort, responsibilities and working conditions. Objective job evaluation is concerned with evaluating the job and not the individual worker. Whatever methods are used for the objective evaluation of jobs, particular care must be taken to ensure that they are free from gender bias: it is important to ensure that the selection of factors for comparison, the weighting of such factors and the actual comparison carried out are not discriminatory, either directly or indirectly. Often skills considered to be “female”, such as manual dexterity and those required in the caring professions, are undervalued or even overlooked, in comparison with traditionally “male” skills, such as heavy lifting (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 695–709). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure, in collaboration with the social partners, that the method of job evaluation and classification used when preparing the classification of jobs in the context of the future wage policy is free from gender bias, that the selection of factors for comparison, the weighting of such factors and the actual comparison carried out are not discriminatory, either directly or indirectly, and that they do not result in jobs generally occupied by women being undervalued. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made regarding the formulation of the wage policy and the classification of jobs, and on the results achieved.

Awareness raising. In view of the lack of information on this point, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken to increase understanding and acceptance of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, including among workers’ and employers’ organizations.

Enforcement. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that it is the labour inspectorate which deals with complaints on wage disparities. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in its concluding observations, recommends that Burundi ensures that the labour inspection system is endowed with adequate and effective resources and focuses its efforts on the labour legislation, including the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value (E/C.12/BDI/CO/1, 16 October 2015, paragraphs 25–26). The Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to strengthen the resources of the labour inspectorate, for example through targeted training on equal pay issues. The Committee also requests the Government to supply information, if applicable, on the nature and number of complaints received by the labour inspectorate and on any related court decisions.

Statistics. The Committee asks the Government once again to provide statistical information on the earnings of men and women by branch of activity, occupation and position, in both the public and private sectors, as soon as such data becomes available.