Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Chile (Ratification: 1971)

1. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its reports received in 1988 and 1989, and notes with interest that the new Labour Code, adopted in 1987, provides in section 2 that any discrimination, exclusion or preference based, among other grounds, on sex is contrary to the principles of the labour legislation.

2. The Committee also notes that under the Labour Code, wages may be determined by individual contracts or by collective agreements, but that their rates may not be lower than the minimum statutory rate. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how and under which provisions the application is ensured of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, in accordance with the Convention, in view of the fact that the new Labour Code (unlike the Code that was previously in force) contains no formal provision to this effect.

3. The Committee also notes that sections 40 and 41 of the new Labour Code contain a definition of the term "remuneration" but that the second subsection of section 40 excludes from this definition certain benefits and allowances arising out of the worker's employment and paid directly or indirectly by the employer (such as family allowances, seniority allowances, travel expenses, etc.). The Committee refers in this connection to Article 1(a) of the Convention, and to paragraphs 14 to 17 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, and requests the Government to indicate whether these benefits are provided under the same conditions to men and women who perform work of equal value, in accordance with this Article of the Convention.

4. The Government states in its report that it was not necessary to take special measures to facilitate the application in practice of the principle set out in the Convention since discrimination does not exist in the country between men and women as regards their remuneration. The Committee notes this statement. It wishes, however, to point out that the principle of the payment of remuneration to men and women on the basis of the value of their work necessarily implies the adoption of a technique for an objective appraisal and comparison of the relative value of the work performed and that, moreover, this technique is essential for determining whether jobs of a different nature nevertheless have the same value for the purposes of remuneration, in accordance with the principle set out in the Convention (please refer in this connection to paragraphs 138 to 150 of the 1986 General Survey). The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would indicate the methods and criteria on which wages in excess of the statutory minimum are determined and, in particular, wages that are established by individual contracts or collective agreements. Please also supply copies of some of the most recent agreements and, in particular, those applicable in sectors employing a significant proportion of women.

5. As regards the public sector, the Committee notes Act No. 18647 of 1987 readjusting remuneration in this sector and requests the Government to indicate the methods and criteria used as a basis for establishing remuneration, and to state how, in law and in practice, the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value is applied to employees in the public administration, the national Congress and the judicial authorities, as well as to employees in state enterprises and institutions who are not covered by the Labour Code.

6. The Committee also requests the Government to supply information on how co-operation is ensured, in practice, with employers' and workers' organisations in order to give effect to the provisions of the Convention (Article 4).