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

Convention (n° 100) sur l'égalité de rémunération, 1951 - Guyana (Ratification: 1975)

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum wage. The Government indicates that the minimum basic salary for public sector workers is amended almost every year, and the national minimum wage for the private sector were revised in July 2022. In this regard, the Committee notes that, as at the third quarter of 2021: (1) the private sector accounted for 61 per cent of the total employed population, the public sector for 23 per cent and the not-for-profit organisation sector for 16 per cent; (2) the national minimum wage applied to 67 per cent of the total employed population, and the minimum basic salary applied to 23 per cent of the total persons employed; and (3) 52 per cent of the persons employed in the public sector, and 32.43 per cent of the persons employed in the private sector, were women. The Government adds that, as at June 2023, 12.3 per cent of the persons employed in the public sector received the minimum basic pay. The Committee notes that, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, in 2024 Guyana ranked 35th (out of 146 countries) on its Global Gender Gap Index. It further observes that in 2024 the country reached its highest gender gap score since it was first included in the index in 2021. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the percentage of women and men receiving the minimum basic salary in the public sector, and the national minimum wage in the private sector. It further encourages the Government to study the impact of introducing the minimum basic salary and the national minimum wage on the earnings of women and the gender pay gap. In that regard, the Committee refers to its comment on technical assistance under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).

Articles 2(2)(c), 3 and 4. Collective agreements and cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations. Objective job evaluation and wage determination.The Committee notes with interest the reactivation of the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) in 2022, which has established several subcommittees, such as the ILO Subcommittee and the Decent Work Country Programme Committee. It also notes that the Ministry of Labour has taken measures to increase awareness of the principle of the Convention, including hosting 11 seminars on conditions of work from 2022 to June 2023 with regional business chambers of commerce and industry and employers, including the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, and the Small Business Bureau; participating in approximately 25 national events to raise awareness of employment conditions; and organizing outreach events on the importance of labour laws, which reached and sensitized 1,700 people. From the information provided, the Committee observes that the activities mentioned above seem to be of a very general nature and did not focus on the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal “value”, nor on methods of job evaluation. In addition, the Government has not provided any information on the use (or not) of objective job evaluation (see the General Survey of 2012 on fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 677, 695 and 696). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the activities of the National Tripartite Committee regarding the implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal “value”, and the promotion of the use of objective job evaluation methods. It also asks the Government to indicate the methods taken: (i) to measure the value of jobs in the private and public sectors; and (ii) to avoid undervaluing jobs traditionally performed by women, when fixing rates of remuneration.Please provide samples of collective agreements containing provisions pointing to the principle of the Convention.

Statistics. The Government states that the Bureau of Statistics has been conducting quarterly labour force surveys since 2017. However, due to resource constraints after the launch of the 2022 Guyana national population and housing census, the Bureau of Statistics was unable to continue these quarterly labour force surveys. In any case, the census will provide key statistics relating to the labour force and market. The Committee notes that the Ministry of Labour has engaged the Bureau of Statistics to improve the current labour force survey. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the main findings of the census regarding the structure of the labour force, employment and unemployment, and behavioural patterns.