Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Cabo Verde (Ratification: 1979)

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Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum wage. The Committee welcomes the increase of the amount of the guaranteed minimum wage as a result of the adoption of Law No. 16/X/2022 of 30 December 2022 approving the State Budget for 2023 (section 13 of the Law). It notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that in all inspections carried out one of the main concern has been to verify compliance with the minimum wage. The Government adds that, in the agricultural and domestic work sectors, it is more difficult to verify such compliance as a result of the level of informality in both sectors. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that a draft legislation is underway to regulate rural work as well as domestic work, which will provide better instruments to labour inspectors in order to enforce legal provisions. The Committee refers, in that respect, to its comments made under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). It further notes the Government’s indication that, in 2020, the General Labour Inspectorate (IGT) received 9 requests for intervention for non-payment of the minimum wage, compared to 2 requests in 2021. In that regard, the Committee notes that, in its last national report published in 2020, the National Commission for Human Rights and Citizenships (CNDHC) expressed concern about frequent violation of the right to the minimum wage in practice and recommended to ensure its effective application. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) any measures undertaken to ensure effective compliance with the legal obligation to pay the minimum wage, including on any awareness-raising activities carried out to this end, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations; (ii) the percentage of women and men who are paid the minimum wage; and (iii) any case or complaint of lack of compliance to pay the minimum wage reported or detected by the labour inspectorate and penalties imposed.

Wage-fixing rates. Public sector. The Committee notes that, in 2018, a diagnosis carried out in the public service revealed significant wage differences between employees performing the same functions but who were placed in different regimes or careers, as well as the lack of coherence between the different coexisting salary scales. As a result, a new Basic Law on Public Service No. 20/X/2023 of 24 March 2023 was adopted. The Committee notes that, pursuant to sections 148 and 149 of the Basic Law, the remuneration is now based on a single remuneration scale applicable to both general and special regime careers, that shall be determined by Decree. Furthermore, section 150 of the Basic Law provides that the remuneration of the employee shall be determined on the basis of the complexity and degree of demand for the profile inherent to such functions, measured by the assessment of the function or position made by a commission while observing the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. Welcoming the efforts made by the Government to ensure greater equity in remuneration in the public service, the Committee recalls that the principle of the Convention goes beyond equal remuneration for “equal” work and also encompasses work of an entirely different nature which is nevertheless of equal value. It observes that the Basic Law does not refer explicitly to equality of remuneration between men and women and draws the Government’s attention to the fact that special attention is needed to ensure that the remuneration rates fixed are free from gender bias, and in particular that certain skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 683). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) the method and criteria used by the commission responsible for measuring the complexity and degree of demand for the profile inherent to the functions in order to determine the remuneration rates; and (iii) any measures taken to ensure that, in the public sector, rates are fixed based on objective criteria free from gender bias, so that functions traditionally accomplished by women are not being undervalued in comparison to those predominantly performed by men.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. Regarding section 16 of the Labour Code which provides that all systems of work description and work evaluation should be based on objective criteria in order to prevent any discrimination, the Committee notes the repeated lack of information provided by the Government on the implementation of such provision, as well as on any steps taken to put in place a system of objective job evaluation. In that regard, it draws the Government’s attention to the fact 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, as men and women typically do not perform the same work. Job evaluation involves 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. The Committee 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 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 695 and 701). In light of the persisting occupational gender segregation, the Committee again asks the Government to provide information on the application of section 16 of the Labour Code by indicating the steps taken to ensure that, in practice, all systems of work description and evaluation are based on objective criteria, such as qualifications and skills, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work, with a view to ensure the effective implementation of the principle of the Convention.

Enforcement. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, in 2020, the IGT received 4 requests for intervention on wage discrimination, compared to 2 requests in 2021 and 1 request in 2022. Observing the low and decreasing number of requests for assistance from the IGT, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that, in 2021, a pilot inspection campaign was carried out, in the context of the Trade for Decent Work Project (T4DW), in the tourism sector. After analysing the results, it was decided to carry out such inspection campaign throughout the national territory. The Government adds that a verification form has been elaborated to that end, with a view to verify the criteria used by companies for awarding wages and subsidies and to identify situations of wage differentials between men and women. The Committee notes that no reference has been made by judicial decisions to the principle of the Convention but that, according to national judges, such principle is taken into consideration in the elaboration of judicial decisions. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) any activity undertaken to raise public awareness of the relevant legislative provisions, the procedures and remedies available related to the principle of the Convention; (ii) the results of the nationwide inspection campaign carried out by the General Labour Inspectorate; and (iii) the number and nature of cases of inequality of remuneration dealt with by the labour inspectors, the courts or any other competent authorities, including the penalties imposed and the compensation awarded.