Tomas: Tripartite Council Backs Equal Pay Bill Without Objections (2)

Bratislava, 8 December (TASR) – The Tripartite Council [representatives of government, employers and employees — ed.note] has unanimously approved a bill on equal pay for men and women, Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) announced after a meeting of the Economic and Social Council on Monday. According to Tomas, the legislation on applying the principle of equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value transposes the relevant EU regulation into Slovak legislation. "The Tripartite Council unanimously endorsed the new law on equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value. The law passed without any comments from the social partners — so employers, trade unions and the Slovak Towns and Villages Association fully agree with it," said the minister. He stressed that employers will be required to introduce a remuneration structure. "This means that work will be assessed on the basis of four clear criteria: complexity, responsibility, arduousness and working conditions. In addition, other so-called soft skills, such as social and communication abilities, will also be evaluated," added Tomas. "We've submitted comments to the bill, we're not happy, but this is the implementation of EU legislation. There's a problem with the post and with the work actually performed. Even in the same post there can and will continue to be differences because employees in the same post don't necessarily perform the same work," said Rastislav Machunka, president of the Association of Employers' Unions and Associations (AZZZ). According to him, AZZZ sees a problem in the related mandatory administration required by the EU directive. Equal pay for men and women is already regulated in Slovakia, for example by the Labour Code and the Anti-discrimination Act, said Martin Hostak, general secretary of the Republican Union of Employers (RUZ). "From our perspective, implementing the EU directive shouldn't be problematic. The issue is the reporting and administrative burden linked to the law. This is challenging for companies. We discussed all our comments with the Labour Ministry," emphasised Hostak. "Even though equal pay for equal work for men and women is already guaranteed in Slovak legislation, several studies show that this equality remains something of a dreamed-of, mythical chimera and that it's certainly not a reality. Therefore, we hope and believe that implementing the EU directive will help to reduce the differences that are a reality today," added Frantisek Gajdos, vice-president of the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ). NOTE: This story has been extended to include the final three paragraphs mf/df