Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ratification: 1969)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Remuneration. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to ensure that section 9 of the draft decree establishing women’s conditions of work was amended to bring it into line with the Convention. The Committee recalls that this draft section 9 provided that, for the same work or work of equal value, remuneration for women’s hours of work or overtime would be the same as that of their male counterparts. The Committee notes that, according to the information provided by the Government, it no longer appears to be a question of amending, with regard to women, Decree No. 68/13 of 17 May 1968 establishing conditions of work for women and children. Consequently, the Committee notes that the point raised previously concerning remuneration is no longer relevant and refers to its comments on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), with regard to special measures of protection for women.

Article 2(2)(b). Wage policy. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the draft wage policy was due to be reviewed and updated by the tripartite committee during the second half of 2017. In the absence of more recent information on this point, the Committee requests the Government once again to take the necessary steps to ensure that equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value is one of the explicit objectives of the new wage policy and encourages it to arrange awareness-raising and training activities for the members of the tripartite committee and the National Labour Council (CNT) in relation to both the principle of the Convention and objective evaluation methods for comparing jobs and establishing their relative value with a view to the application of that principle. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the progress of work concerning the adoption of the wage policy and on any steps taken to raise awareness of the principle of the Convention and to send a copy of this policy, once it has been adopted.

Article 2(2)(c). Collective agreements. The Committee notes that, contrary to what is indicated in the Government’s report, the copy of the national inter-occupational collective labour agreement of 20 January 2013 has not been sent with the report. Recalling the important role that can be played by collective agreements in the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, the Committee once again requests the Government to send a copy of the national inter-occupational collective labour agreement of 20 January 2013 and also relevant extracts of other collective agreements relating to workers’ pay.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes the Government’s repeated indication that a draft general job classification was due to be examined and updated during the second half of 2017. The Committee once again recalls that since women and men often do not hold the same jobs or perform the same tasks, there has to be an objective evaluation of jobs on the basis of the tasks they involve, using objective criteria such as skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, in order to ensure the effective application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. In the absence of more recent information on this point, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the general job classification is established on the basis of objective criteria, free of any gender stereotypes, and requests it to provide information on the method and criteria used in this regard. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the progress of the draft general job classification and to send a copy of it, once it has been adopted by the CNT.

Statistical information. The Committee welcomes the fact that the Government has sent detailed statistics on the earnings of workers, by sector of activity. However, it notes that these statistics are not disaggregated by sex and consequently make it impossible to determine whether there is a gender pay gap. The Committee encourages the Government to take the necessary steps to collect and compile data, disaggregated by sex, on the participation of men and women in the labour market and their respective earnings, if possible by sector of economic activity and occupation.