Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not reply to the comments made by the International Organization of Employers (IOE) which were mentioned in the Committee's previous direct request. The IOE stated that the Government had not implemented the measures recommended by the Governing Body Committee in May 1993 in its report (GB.256/15/16) on the representation made by the IOE and the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers and Association of Commerce and Production (FEDECAMARAS) under article 24 of the ILO Constitution, in particular with regard to its obligation to consult with representatives of employers' organizations. The Committee recalls that these comments were communicated to the Government on 28 September 1995 for its comments, which have not as yet been received. The Committee urges the Government to provide full information on the matters raised in the IOE's comments.

2. It also requests the Government once again to supply the information requested on certain points in its previous direct request to which no reply has yet been received; the text reads as follows:

(...)

3. By virtue of section 135 of the new Organic Labour Act, "equal wages or salary shall be paid for equal work performed in equivalent posts with the same hours of work and the same conditions of efficiency. To this end the worker's ability relative to the type of work performed shall be borne in mind". In this respect, the Committee renews its previous direct request concerning the components of pay which are to be understood as integral components of wages and the concept of "equal work". The Committee notes the various rulings by the Supreme Court of Justice which refer to the application of the above concept (section 73 of the former Code), which are appended to the report and which principally concern the various benefits that the applicants maintained should be considered as integral parts of the wage, both with regard to retroactive rulings and with a view to including them in severance pay upon the termination of the employment of the worker. In this respect, the Government, in response to objections to the new Act from employers and workers, has emphasized the similarity of the principles set out in the previous Labour Code and the Act which is currently in force. Since the Government has maintained that in the past the application of the above principles was not questioned, the Committee requests it to state: (a) the force of the rulings handed down (that is, whether under Venezuelan law the above rulings will continue to be obligatory for the Supreme Court and for lower courts); and (b) since they deal with the new Organic Labour Act (and particularly the definition of remuneration contained in section 133), whether the case-law could vary in future.

4. With regard to the public sector, the Committee once again requests the Government to supply the text of the Job Classification Manual for the Public Sector, which it has not received.

5. The Committee notes the Government's statement that the application of the principle of equal remuneration is entrusted principally to labour inspectors and that the National Costs, Prices and Wages Board issues wage recommendations which are based on the principle of equality. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the measures adopted in practice by these bodies to promote the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, based on an objective appraisal of jobs.