Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Sao Tome and Principe (Ratification: 1982)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum wages. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, concerning the adoption of Decree No. 2/2016 establishing the new national minimum wage and salary scale for the public sector. It further takes note of sections 237 to 243 of the Labour Code, adopted through Act No. 6/2019 of 16 November 2018, on the national minimum wage. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the wage-fixing methods and mechanisms used in practice to establish and revise the national minimum wages and the impact of such measures on the gender wage gap. It asks the Government to provide statistical information on the percentage of women and men who are paid the minimum wage in the private sector, as well as the distribution of women and men in all the grades of the new salary scale in the public sector and their remuneration levels. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on any awareness-raising activities carried out on the application of the principle of the Convention, in the context of the setting of national minimum wages, including in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as on any case or complaint regarding a lack of compliance to pay the minimum wage reported or detected by the labour inspectorate and the penalties imposed.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes that section 22(3) of the Labour Code provides that job description and job evaluation systems should be based on objective criteria which are common to men and women in order to exclude any discrimination based on sex. The Committee recalls that effective implementation of the principle of the Convention requires the use of a job evaluation method in order to measure and compare the relative value of different jobs held by men and women, through an examination of the respective tasks involved, undertaken on the basis of entirely objective and non-discriminatory criteria, such as skills and qualifications, effort, responsibilities and working conditions, to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. It further recalls that measures for the objective evaluation of jobs can be taken at the enterprise, sectoral or national level, in the context of collective bargaining, as well as through wage-fixing mechanisms (see General survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 695 and 701). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the practical application of section 22(3) of the Labour Code, by indicating the steps taken to promote, develop and implement practical methods for the objective evaluation of jobs, both in the public and private sectors, based on criteria that are free from gender bias, such as qualifications and skills, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work, with a view to ensure the effective implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. It asks the Government to provide information on any job evaluation exercise undertaken in the public sector, indicating the criteria used and the measures taken to ensure that men and women receive equal remuneration for work of equal value.