Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Hungary (Ratification: 1956)

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report.

1. The Committee understands that the Hungarian text (and the English translation) of article 70/B(2) of the 1989 Constitution guarantees "the right to equal pay for equal work", and not what the Government's report states, namely "For work of equal value, every person has the right to equal remuneration, without any discrimination". In view of the wording of Article 2 of the Convention, the Committee asks the Government to supply information on how the broader concept of equal pay for work of equal value is applied, given the limited wording of this constitutional provision.

2. The Committee notes section 141 of the 1992 Labour Code, which provides that employees are entitled to receive wages on the basis of their employment contract, outside agreements being null and void. Please provide information on the way in which this provision is applied, and in particular whether it affects the application of the principle of equal remuneration beyond the basic wage.

3. The Committee would appreciate receiving information on the payment on the various supplements listed under sections 146 ff. of the Labour Code, which, according to the ban on certain work by women elsewhere in the Code, appear to be available only to male workers.

4. Please supply a copy of the "regulations on remuneration" of the Labour Code (which apparently cover only the most basic conditions of remuneration), referred to in the Government's report.

5. Regarding the public service, the Committee would appreciate receiving information on how the principle of equal remuneration is ensured to public servants covered by Act No. 33 on the legal status of public servants of 5 May 1992, who perform work which is of equal value, but of a different nature.

6. The Committee asks the Government to transmit with its next report a copy of the new 23-category job classification, as well as information on the impact this new system has had on those industries employing large numbers of women (for example, has any identified wage gap decreased?).

7. The Committee notes that the 1992 statistics supplied by the Government show clear wage gaps in the earnings of men and women (20 per cent on the national average and up to 40 per cent in industries employing predominately males, such as mining), but that the Government states that these data do not prove discrimination against women in remuneration. It states that the gap can be explained by other reasons, namely: men frequently perform harder and more difficult work; and women may be responsible for family duties and therefore cannot be counted on and are paid less than men, even in theoretically similar work. The Committee also notes the comments of the National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions, according to which the wage gaps observed are not proportionate to the lesser amount of work done by women (presumably when they are absent because of family duties). The Confederation supplies 1993 figures showing a decreasing difference between men's and women's remuneration, and states its belief that the new job system and the works councils established under the 1992 Labour Code can improve pay equality between men and women workers.

The Committee draws the Government's attention to paragraphs 100 and 250 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, which point to the need for an overall approach to eliminating sex-based inequalities if the principle of this Convention is to be applied in full. In particular it refers to paragraph 252 of the General Survey where it observed that the equal evaluation of work and equal rights to all of the components of remuneration cannot be achieved in a general context of inequality. It asks the Government to supply copies of any studies, inquiries, or research - carried out under the auspices of the Government and its concerned departments or by the social partners - which attempt to analyze the clearly sex-based wage differentials in an effort to identify those elements, criteria or procedures which are giving rise to this situation, and to introduce measures to eliminate them.