Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government with respect to the sex-based wage differentials contained in the collective agreements concerning government workers, which were attached to the Government’s previous report. The Government indicates that men and women actually perform different jobs: women perform the duties of weeding, bundling and sweeping whereas men perform the more strenuous duties of loading and lifting, thus accounting for the difference in salary scales between men and women. The Committee notes, however, that the classification of these jobs on the basis of sex, rather than criteria relating to the work performed, runs contrary to the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee hopes the Government will be in a position to provide information in its next report on the measures taken to remove these sex-based differentials contained in the agreements’ salary scales, to ensure that women and men have access to jobs covered by the collective agreements and to ensure that other such agreements entered into in the future do not include sex-based wage differentials.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.