Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Spain (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), received on 11 August 2017, and of the General Union of Workers (UGT), received on 17 August 2017, both also transmitted by the Government, and the Government’s responses. The Committee also notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), received on 1 September 2017, which support and endorse the observations of the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), communicated by the Government, and the Government’s corresponding response.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender wage gap. In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to take specific measures for the adoption of effective action to address the gender wage gap, and also to take measures in the area of education and vocational training to address the significant occupational segregation and to enable women to have greater access to non-traditional careers and positions of responsibility, and to provide information on this subject. The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains information on the various measures adopted to promote the principle of the Convention in enterprises, including information on the implementation of the “Equality in the Enterprise” label, subsidies for the development and implementation of equality plans in enterprises, and the advisory services, awareness-raising training and citizens’ information for the development of equality plans managed by the Women’s Institute for Equality of Opportunities which, among other measures, makes available to enterprises self-diagnosis tools for the gender wage gap and for the assessment of jobs from a gender perspective. The Committee also notes the collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Employment and Social Security and the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality for permanent monitoring in enterprises of effective equality between men and women and the results of the campaigns on gender-based wage discrimination. With regard to vertical occupational segregation, the Committee notes the extensive information provided by the Government on the various programmes undertaken in collaboration with enterprises with a view to promoting the access of women to decision-making positions, including the More Women, Better Enterprises (Más Mujeres, Mejores Empresas) programme, the Promotion Project, the Programme for the Development of Women Directors and the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development Project in decision-making bodies in enterprises in the agro-food sector. With regard to horizontal segregation, the Government indicates that, in recent years, significant progress has been made in equality in education and training, but that important objectives still need to be addressed, especially in the fields of sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. With a view to eliminating the “scientific gap”, the Government refers to the Digital Agenda for Spain 2013 and the Plan for Equality of Opportunities for Women and Men in the Information Society 2014–17, in the context of which awareness-raising and training campaigns have been undertaken to promote the capacities of women in information and communication technologies, together with action to promote and support women’s entrepreneurship through these technologies.

On the other hand, the Committee notes the Annual Wage Structure Survey published in 2018, according to which: (i) the annual wage of women in 2016 represented 77.7 per cent of that of men; (ii) the economic activities with the best annual wages were found in electrical energy, gas, steam and air conditioning, financing and insurance, information and communications, while the lowest annual salaries were in catering and other services; and (iii) with regard to wages by occupation, the lowest paid occupations were occupied by unskilled workers in services (with the exception of transport), workers in the catering services and commerce, and workers in health and personal care services, where the average wages were all below the national average. In this regard, the Committee also notes the report “The situation of women on the labour market 2017”, available on the website of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, according to which almost 89 per cent of women in employment are engaged in the services sector.

The Committee notes that, according to the UGT, the measures adopted by the Government are ineffective and inadequate to achieve wage equality between men and women. The UGT indicates that it has communicated to the Government the need to develop and adopt legislation on gender wage equality in order to make progress. It adds that, in the current context of a more precarious labour market, enterprise equality plans are not effective in achieving wage equality between men and women workers, very few plans are negotiated in practice with workers’ representatives and almost none of them contain measures to achieve wage equality. The Committee further notes the indication by the CCOO that the measures to which the Government refers, such as More Women, Better Enterprises, the Promotion Project, the Programme for the Development of Women Directors, are intended for women who are in managerial positions or on executive boards, and it is necessary to take measures which are also intended for women at lower wage levels. In this regard, the CCOO indicates that women represent 70 per cent of the employed population with incomes below the minimum wage (SMI). The Committee also notes the observations of the CEOE, which update the Government’s report on various points, and particularly on the implementation of the Promotion Project.

The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the observations made by the UGT and the CCOO, in which it: (i) indicates that the underlying causes of the gender wage gap are numerous and complex; (ii) indicates that the development of new measures is being examined to address wage inequality based on certain projects undertaken in 2014 and 2015 in collaboration with universities, trade unions and employers’ organizations; (iii) recalls that enterprises with over 250 workers are required by law to negotiate and implement an equality plan and that enterprises which voluntarily implement equality plans have to ensure the participation of the legal representatives of the staff in their preparation and implementation; (iv) emphasizes that the conditions for the subsidies for equality plans referred to above provide that the plans to be financed shall promote specific measures in a series of areas, including access to employment and conditions of work, intended to combat horizontal and vertical gender segregation and achieve equal remuneration, and recalls the diagnostic tools for the wage gap and other instruments made available in enterprises; (v) reiterates that Spanish labour legislation already sets out and guarantees equality in employment, including in relation to remuneration, in full recognition of the principle of the Convention; (vi) adds that Act 3 of 2012 on urgent measures for labour market reform removed occupational categories from the system of the occupational classification of workers on the grounds that in many cases the categories were indirectly responsible for wage discrimination against women, and provided that the definition of occupational groups shall be adjusted to criteria and systems which have the objective of ensuring the absence of direct and indirect discrimination between men and women (section 22(3)); and (vii) recognizes that the wage gap continues to be a serious problem which requires the adoption of additional measures for its reduction and emphasizes the importance of collective bargaining for this purpose. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to reduce the gender wage gap, in collaboration with workers’ and employers’ organizations, and to monitor the impact of the measures adopted with a view to identifying and adopting the necessary adjustments. The Committee also requests the Government to: (i) continue providing information on the measures adopted or envisaged, including any measure to promote and provide training on the principle of the Convention and on the self-diagnosis tool for the gender wage gap and for the evaluation of jobs from a gender perspective made available to enterprises by the Women’s Institute for Equality of Opportunities; and (ii) to provide information on any measures adopted to address the underlying causes of the wage gap. Please also provide statistical information disaggregated by sex on the participation of men and women in the labour market (with an indication of the sectors in which they are engaged and their wage levels), in education and vocational training.

Labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to continue providing information on the measures adopted and the investigations carried out by the labour inspection services, particularly on the action taken under Instruction No. 3/2011 on the monitoring in enterprises of effective equality between men and women. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the results of the specific campaigns undertaken by the labour inspection services on gender wage discrimination in 2014, 2015 and 2016 in 446, 414 and 408 enterprises, respectively, throughout the country. The Committee notes that in 2014 gender wage discrimination was detected in four enterprises, as well as the same number of enterprises in 2015 and two enterprises in 2016. The Committee also notes that, according to the CCOO, the action taken by the labour inspection services is inadequate and, although the tool to detect the existence of wage gaps marks progress, there is no record of the number of enterprises which have used it and whether, in the event that a wage gap is detected, it has been corrected. The Committee notes that, in its response to the observations of the CCOO, the Government indicates that a central feature of the action taken by the labour inspection services is that concerning the application of the principle of the Convention which goes beyond the specific campaigns, and which supplements but does not account for the totality of the activities undertaken by the labour inspection system in relation to wage equality for men and women. The Government adds data on the activities of the labour inspection services undertaken in relation to gender equality. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures adopted and the investigations carried out by the labour inspection services in relation to equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Recalling the persistence of a substantial gender wage gap and the fact that 89 per cent of women in employment are in the low-wage services sector, the Committee requests the Government to indicate specific measures undertaken or contemplated by labour inspection services to improve enforcement of national laws related to effective implementation of the Convention.