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Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Sri Lanka (RATIFICATION: 1993)

Article 1 of the Convention. Additional emoluments. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that it categorically rejects that meals would have been provided for men rural workers but not for women. It notes the Government’s repeated indication that there is a legal requirement to pay wages in legal tender and that no payment could be made in kind. Recalling that the term “remuneration” provided for in Article 1(a) of the Convention includes any additional emoluments such as benefits in kind, including providing food, regardless of the term used in practice to designate such benefits, the Committee requests the Government to ensure that all emoluments, whether in cash or in kind, are granted to men and women on an equal footing and to provide information on any specific steps taken in this regard.

Article 2. Equal remuneration in the plantation industry, including palm oil plantations. The Committee recalls the observations made in 2012 by Education International (EI) and the All Ceylon Union of Teachers (ACUT) concerning gender wage discrimination mainly in the plantation industry. It welcomes the Government’s indication that the Department of Labour is in the process of forming wages boards for palm oil plantation industries and that in the meantime the National Minimum Wage Act, which is also applicable to workers in the plantation industry, will ensure minimum wage for palm oil workers. The Committee however refers to its observation where it noted that the National Minimum Wage Act does not cover workers on daily wages, such as in the plantation sector. It further notes that, according to the available data forwarded by the Government which refers to one tea plantation and one tea and rubber plantation both in the private sector, women represented approximately 57 per cent of the workers employed, but less than 0.2 per cent of women employed were occupying executive staff positions. Drawing the Government’s attention to the very limited scope of the statistical data forwarded which do not include information on the earnings of men and women workers in the plantation industry, the Committee requests the Government to provide information, disaggregated by sex, on the number of workers in the various occupations in the plantation industry and the measures taken to address any gender remuneration gap identified, such as practical measures taken to enable a larger number of women to gain access to paid employment, especially in rural areas, including any initiative which aims to improve their level of education and vocational training and to combat stereotypes about their assumed professional skills, abilities and aspirations and their status and role in the family and in society. It requests the Government to specify the number of men and women employed on daily wages while indicating how equal remuneration between men and women for work of equal value is also ensured between workers on daily wages and other workers in the plantation industry. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in the setting up of wages boards for palm oil plantation industries, as well as the measures taken to ensure that the rates fixed by the wages boards are based on objective criteria free from gender bias (such as qualifications, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work), so that work predominantly done by women is not undervalued compared to work predominantly done by men.

Export processing zones (EPZs). With regard to wage determination in EPZs, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that there is no undervaluation of jobs done by women compared to those performed by men in EPZs. It notes however that, according to the statistical information forwarded by the Government, while women represented 58 per cent of the total number of workers employed in EPZs in 2016, 52.2 per cent of them were concentrated in the low-paying semi-skilled and unskilled occupations (against 44.6 per cent of men) while only 6.8 per cent of them were employed in higher skilled and managerial occupations (against 24.3 per cent of men). Noting the Government’s statement that it will be necessary to conduct an in-depth study to get a clearer picture on wage determination in jobs predominantly performed by women in EPZs, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to conduct this study and to provide a copy of the study, once available. In the meantime, it requests the Government to provide information on the distribution of men and women and their corresponding levels of earnings in the various occupational categories (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, higher skilled and managerial occupations) in enterprises in EPZs. It also requests the Government to indicate how the principle of the Convention is taken into account in the process of wage determination, in particular, with a view to ensuring that the jobs predominantly performed by women are not being undervalued compared to those predominantly performed by men in EPZs.

Wage policy. Referring to its previous comments concerning the establishment of a National Pay Commission to evaluate the existing wage policy and introduce a new wage policy, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that this Commission will only consider wages of public sector employees. Noting that no significant progress has been made by the National Pay Commission, the Committee again requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in evaluating the wage policy and designing a new wage policy applicable to the public sector. It again requests the Government to take steps, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, to ensure that the new wage policy implements the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, through the use of objective job evaluation methods. It further requests the Government to provide information on the elaboration of any new wage policy applicable to the private sector.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee previously welcomed the inclusion in the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights 2011–16 of “equal pay for work of equal value” as an explicit objective to be achieved through the conduct of a study on introducing a job evaluation system to serve as a basis for developing and establishing such an evaluation system. It notes the Government’s statement that the study was not completed as the Ministry of Labour is lacking technical knowledge. It notes that the Government is requesting ILO technical assistance in this regard. While noting that the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights 2017–21 does not make reference to the principle of the Convention anymore, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to develop and promote practical approaches and methods for objective job evaluation using objective criteria free from gender bias, such as qualifications and skills, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Awareness raising. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that it will take steps to raise awareness on the principle of the Convention. Taking into consideration the absence of comprehensive legislation implementing the principle of the Convention as well as the wide gender pay gap, the Committee requests the Government to strengthen its efforts to widely disseminate information and raise awareness among workers, employers, their organizations, as well as labour inspectors and other officials, of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, in particular the concepts of “equal value” and “objective job evaluation”. It requests the Government to provide information on any activities undertaken to this end, including in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations.