Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Finland (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the observations of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (AKAVA) and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) (thereafter referred to as “the trade unions”), and of the Federation of Finnish enterprises (SY), the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and the Local Government and County Employers (KT), attached to the Government’s report.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Equality plans and equal pay surveys. According to the Equality Act, if the number of staff in the service of the employer is regularly 30 or more, the employer is to draw up an equality plan at least once every two years. The equality plan pays attention particularly to wages and other terms of employment, determines the equality promoting measures at the workplace and includes a pay survey (in 2021, there were 7,000–8,000 employers and 3,000 educational institutions under the obligation to draw up a gender equality plan). The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that inspections carried out by the Ombudsman for Equality reveal that there is still a need for improvement in the quality of pay surveys and in gender equality planning in its entirety (CEDAW/C/FIN/8, 1 April 2021, para. 229). It further notes from the Government’s report that, according to a survey undertaken by Statistics Finland in 2020 focusing on the prevalence and quality of employers’ gender equality plans and pay surveys, the majority of organizations draw up such plans and surveys but that there is considerable variation in their scope and quality: improvements are needed in relation to cooperation with staff, pay comparisons (too limited in scope), processing of pay data and concrete measures included in plans. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged:

• (i)to support employers in improving the quality of their gender equality plans and pay surveys (including their scope of comparison); and
• (ii)to monitor and provide results on their impact on the gender pay gap in the workplace.

Article 2(2)(c). Collective agreements. The Committee wishes to recall the important role that collective agreements can play in the fight for pay equity. Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to indicate any steps taken, in cooperation with the social partners, to:

• (i)promote the inclusion of provisions implementing the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in local or industry-level collective agreements;
• (ii)remove any provisions which, directly or indirectly, results in discrimination; and
• (iii)evaluate the results achieved.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. In view of the strong gender-segregation of the labour market in Finland (see the Committee’s comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)) and the very slow pace of the decrease in the gender pay gap, the Committee wishes to recall that whatever methods are used for the objective evaluation of jobs, particular care must be taken to ensure that they are free from gender bias. It is important to ensure that the selection of factors for comparison, the weighting of such factors and the actual comparison carried out are not discriminatory, either directly or indirectly (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 701). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that job evaluations carried out to determine rates of pay, in the public and private sectors, are objective and free of any gender bias.

Enforcement. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in the report it submitted to the CEDAW in April 2021, that the revised Non-Discrimination Act makes it easier for authorities to take action on discrimination experienced by women (CEDAW/C/FIN/8, para. 12). It also notes the conclusions of a study published in November 2020 as part of the “Aidosti yhdenvertaiset” project assessing the effects of the 2015 reform of the Non-Discrimination Act, which underlined the lack of resources of officials and its effect on the under-reporting and partial non-identification of discrimination. It further notes that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended to: (a) investigate reports of breach of provisions on remuneration in collective agreements and increase labour inspection in sectors of the economy where such violations are likely to occur: (b) improve complaints mechanisms in these sectors to make them easily accessible; (c) assist victims in obtaining redress; and (d) ensure that contravening employers, even when they are based abroad, are subject to sanctions (E/C.12/FIN/CO/7, 30 March 2021, para. 26). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on:

• (i)the number, nature and outcome of cases concerning equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value dealt with by the competent administrative authorities and the courts; and
• (ii)the measures taken or envisaged to reinforce labour inspections monitoring systems, especially with a view to detect violations of the principle of the Convention.