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Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Suriname (RATIFICATION: 2017)

Articles 1(b) and 2(2)(a) of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. Legislation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in reply to its previous comment, that amending the Constitution is a lengthy process but that it takes note of the Committee’s recommendation to amend article 28(a) of the Constitution to give full expression to the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that the draft Equality of Treatment Act is still with Parliament for approval, but that the Government will consider the insertion of a definition of “remuneration” in the legislation once it is returned from Parliament. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on:

• (i)the progress achieved in amending Article 28(a) of the Constitution of Suriname to refer to the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value” as opposed to “equal pay for equal work”;
• (ii)whether the Private Employment Agency Act S.B. 2017 no. 42 refers explicitly to the concept of “work of equal value”, as enshrined by the Convention; and
• (iii)any developments in relation to the adoption of the draft Equality of Treatment Act. With regard to the latter, the Committee encourages the Government to include, in the draft Equality of Treatment Act to be examined by Parliament, a definition of the concept of “remuneration” for the purpose of the application of the principle of “equal remuneration for work of equal value” that encompasses all the elements included in Article (1)(a) of the Convention.

Article 2(2)(b) and (c). Measures to promote equal remuneration. Collective agreements and minimum wages. The Committee refers to its previous comment and notes the Government’s reply that all collective bargaining agreements use structured and gender-neutral wage systems to remunerate employees, at all levels, most of the time excluding top management. The Government adds that these wage systems (pay scales) are an integral part of the collective bargaining agreements and are included in an addendum to the agreement. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that the National Wage Council was established on 28 April 2021, and that its first point of order will be to determine a new general minimum wage after consulting the primary stakeholders. In this regard, the Committee refers to paragraph 683 of its 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions. The Committee recalls that, for the public sector, workers are paid according to a remuneration scale established under the FISO (Function Information System for the Civil Service). It notes the Government’s general indication that, since the FISO is a gender-neutral system, “the principle of equality is incorporated in the system”. The Committee requests the Government to:

• (i)provide copies of existing collective bargaining agreements setting wages, in order to assess whether the agreements refer explicitly to the principle of the Convention;
• (ii)continue to provide information on the activities of the National Wage Council and how it takes into account the application of the principle in advising the Government on a general or sectoral minimum wages; and
• (iii)clarify whether, and how, the application of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value was taken into account in the establishment of the FISO system.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes the Government’s reply to its previous comment that, with regard to collective bargaining agreements, the Ministry of Labour, Employment Opportunity and Youth Affairs has asked that all employers indicate the manner in which a system of objective job appraisal is being implemented, and that it will supply the gathered information in due course. With respect to the public sector, the Government indicates that no evaluation of jobs in sectors with a high proportion of women has taken place and that the criteria used to evaluate the jobs covered by the FISO include: skills/education, responsibilities, working experience and level of internal and external networking, and working conditions. In this regard, the Committee recalls that 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 the 2012 General Survey, para. 701). The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that the draft Equality of Treatment Act, in its section 7, defines “objective job appraisal” and provides detailed guidelines for the use of gender neutral job appraisals. However, the Committee understands that section 7 of the draft law deals with exceptions to the prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation, rather than objective job evaluations for the purpose of equal remuneration. The Committee therefore recalls that the concept of “equal value” requires some method of measuring and comparing the relative value of different jobs and that a job evaluation is a formal procedure which, through analysing the content of jobs, gives a numerical value to each job. The application of the Convention requires an examination of the respective tasks involved in different jobs, undertaken on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria, (such as skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions) to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. The Committee asks the Government to indicate:

• (i)how it is ensured that the method used for the objective evaluation of jobs by the FISO is free from gender bias; and
• (ii)whether it is envisaging the insertion of a provision requiring the conduct of objective job evaluations in the draft Equality of Treatment Act.

The Committee also once again requests the Government to:

• (i)promote objective job evaluations on the basis of the work to be performed to ensure that formal procedures are established to analyse the content of different jobs, and to give a numerical value to each job based on objective criteria (such as skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions); and
• (ii)provide information, once available, on the specific criteria used to evaluate the jobs and occupations and set wages by collective agreements, particularly in sectors with a high proportion of women.

Article 4. Cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations. In reply to the Committee’s previous comment, the Government indicates that the application of the principle of the Convention has not yet been addressed by the Labour Advisory Board. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on:

• (i)the activities of the Labour Advisory Board and the National Wage Council, in relation to the effective application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value; and
• (ii)the establishment of the tripartite National Commission on Equality of Treatment.

Statistics. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that no statistical data is available. It notes, from the Government’s report on the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that, while efforts have been made to strengthen data collection systems, the availability of appropriate qualitative and quantitative disaggregated data remains a challenge. The Government acknowledges the need to move forward towards setting up an institution or mechanism to collect the necessary data for human rights reporting (CCPR/C/SUR/4, January 2022, para. 24). The Committee recalls that an analysis of the position and pay of men and women in all job categories, within and between sectors, is required to address fully the remuneration gap between men and women, and that appropriate statistical data need to be collected to undertake an assessment of the nature and extent of the gender pay gap. The Committee once again requests the Government to:

• (i)collect statistical data disaggregated by sex on the remuneration of workers, classified by branch of economic activity and occupations; and
• (ii)report on the adoption of the draft Workers Registration Act. The Committee once again refers to its general observation adopted in 1998 on the application of the Convention for more details on the statistics to be collected to fully assess the application of the principle of the Convention and reminds the Government of the possibility to avail itself of ILO technical assistance in this regard.