Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2024, publiée 113ème session CIT (2025)

Convention (n° 100) sur l'égalité de rémunération, 1951 - Niger (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee takes note of Ordinance No. 2023-01 of 28 July 2023, which suspends the Constitution of 25 November 2010, and establishes the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, as well as Ordinance No. 2023-02 of 28 July 2023, on public authorities during the transition period, as communicated by the Government. It notes that, under Ordinance No. 2023-02, laws and regulations enacted and published as of the signing date of the ordinance remain in force unless expressly repealed (section 19). The Committee also notes that this Ordinance provides that Niger remains bound by ratified International Treaties and Agreements (section 3).

Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention. Collective agreements. The Committee recalls that sections 157 to 160 of the Labour Code (Act No. 2012-45 of 25 September 2012) provide for: (1) the principle of equal pay for work of equal value without distinction as to origin, gender, age or status; (2) the shift of the burden of proof to the employer in cases where reliable evidence leads to the presumption of pay discrimination; and (3) the requirement for job assessment methods to focus on objective factors predominantly based on the nature of such jobs. In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the new interoccupational agreement adopted on 19 April 2022, provides in section 45 that under equal conditions of work, professional qualifications and performance, wages are equal for all workers, irrespective of their origin, age, sex or status, under the conditions laid down in this title. Each worker’s wage is determined on the basis of his or her job within the enterprise. The Committee notes with regret that once again this definition is not in conformity with the principle enshrined in the Convention. For several years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that section 38 of the interoccupational agreement of 15 December 1972 did not apply the principle of “equal value” contained in the Convention. Although criteria such as the worker’s skills or performance allow for an objective assessment of the service provided by different persons carrying out a job of a similar nature, they do not provide an adequate basis for the application of the principle set out by the Convention, namely when men and women in practice perform work of a different nature but which, further to assessment, may be of equal value. In this regard, the Committee recalls that the concept of “work of equal value” is fundamental to tackling gender occupational segregation in the labour market, which exists in almost every country, as it permits a broad scope of comparison, including, but going beyond equal remuneration for “equal”, “the same” or “similar” work, and also encompasses work that is of an entirely different nature, which is nevertheless of equal value (see the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 673). Noting that section 45 of the interoccupational agreement adopted in 2022 is still not in conformity with the principle enshrined in the Convention, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to encourage the social partners to review this section of the interoccupational agreement in order to expressly include the principle of the Convention already contained in the Labour Code. It also requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken in this regard. The Committee reminds the Government that it may, if it so wishes, avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.