Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 1997)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Employment policy. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to provide a copy of the Decent Work Policy and Programme of Action once they had been adopted. It notes the Government’s reply that, due to resource constraints, the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development (MOLSED) has been unable to continue the development of a Decent Work Policy and Programme of Action, but that the principles of the Decent Work Agenda, including the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, are being taken into account as part of the MOLSED’s current review of labour legislation. Recalling the importance of implementing fully the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard, more specifically on any review of labour legislation undertaken with a view to ensuring the implementation of this principle, which lies at the heart of the fundamental right of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and equality.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. In reply to the Committee’s request to provide information on the measures taken to promote objective job evaluation on the basis of the work to be performed in the public and private sectors, the Government replies that job evaluation exercises have been implemented in the public service (teaching, police, prison, fire, judicial and legal services) since the early 2000s. The job evaluation methodologies utilized involved the use of factors such as “know-how”, “problem-solving” and “accountability”. A job evaluation utilizing a similar quantitative methodology is under way for offices in the public service which are within the purview of the Salaries Review Commission, and the same exercise should be carried out for offices in the civil service during the next fiscal year. Recalling the need for an examination of the respective tasks involved on the basis of entirely objective and non-discriminatory criteria to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias, the Committee asks the Government to provide detailed information on the method used for job evaluation exercises and the results achieved. It also asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken to promote objective job evaluation in the private sector.