Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Spain (Ratification: 1967)

1. Article 2 of the Convention. Prohibition of discrimination in remuneration. Noting the measures adopted to reinforce the legislation for the penalization of wage discrimination, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide examples of the application of this legislation.

2. Labour inspection and equal remuneration. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the results of the activities of the labour inspectorate in relation to women’s conditions of work and discrimination against women, including steps taken to supervise and enforce equal remuneration. The Committee asks the Government to provide more detailed information on cases of violations of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, and on the outcome of these cases. In relation to the comment by the CC.OO that the labour inspectorate should act on its own initiative, the Government indicates that one of the general objectives of the labour inspectorate is that programmed activities (those undertaken on its own initiative) progressively take on greater weight in relation to activities initiated at the request of the parties, which normally have their origins in complaints. Section 2(3)(3) of the IV Equality Plan provides for “establishing as a priority in the activities of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate those intended to eradicate direct or indirect discrimination on the ground of sex, with emphasis on wage discrimination and sexual harassment”. The Government adds that, as the field of labour is within the competence of the Autonomous Communities, it is in the territorial commissions that it is agreed to undertake action related to wage discrimination on grounds of sex, with the exception of Instruction No. 106/2003 respecting “Activities by inspectors intended to eradicate any discrimination on the ground of sex”, which is applicable throughout the State. The Committee notes that, when giving effect to this standard, the labour inspectorate undertook campaigns in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, the Baleares, the Canary Islands, Castilla y Leon, Catalonia, Madrid, Navarra, La Rioja and the Valencian Community which covered, among other subjects, discrimination in remuneration and discriminatory clauses in collective agreements. Noting with interest the activities undertaken by the labour inspectorate, the Committee asks the Government to continue providing information on the planned activities of the labour inspectorate relating to the application of the Convention.

3. Articles 2 and 3. Measures to address the gender wage gap. The Committee notes that the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate does not have available “ad hoc” instruments to assess the effectiveness and impact of its activities, except in very specific cases in which further inspections are envisaged on some or all of the enterprises already inspected at an earlier stage. The Government indicates that this is the reason why it cannot provide detailed information on this subject. With regard to the information technology tool known as the ISOS programme (relating to manuals for the appraisal of jobs and the identification of indicators of wage discrimination), the Committee notes that, according to the report, a series of practical difficulties have been encountered in its use by the labour inspectorate. The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether these problems have been resolved and whether the above tools continue to be used, the sectors concerned and the results obtained.

4. Social partners. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken and agreements concluded with the social partners to achieve equal remuneration, which it has noted in its observation on the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and on any other measure of the same nature intended to improve the application of the provisions of the Convention, particularly those designed to reduce the wage gap between men and women. Please indicate the action taken as a result of the recommendations made by the Committee established under the terms of the Declaration for social dialogue concluded on 8 July 2004 by the Government and the social partners, which recommends adopting “measures to eliminate the gender wage gap”.