Media Advisory: National Bipartite Meetings for social partners continue in Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis
Representatives from national employers’and workers’ organizations will discuss labour issues pertinent to each member State.
PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - Following two successful National Bipartite meetings held in Saint Lucia and Grenada on 7 and 9 July 2015 respectively, the ILO will facilitate three further workshops in Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis as follows:
Dominica
Location: Fort Young Hotel
Date: Monday, 13 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Rayburn Blackmoore, Minister of Justice, Immigration and National Security
Antigua and Barbuda
Location: Trade Winds Hotel
Date: Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Steadroy Benjamin, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Public Safety,Immigration and Labour
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Location: St. Kitts Marriott Resort
Date: Thursday, 16 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Vance Amory, Premier of Nevis, Senior Minister and Minister of Nevis Affairs, Labour, Social Security and Ecclesiastical Affairs
Representatives from national employers’and workers’ organizations will discuss labour issues pertinent to each member State, such as developing and fostering national and regional social dialogue mechanisms, and meeting labour market demands through technical and vocational training.
The workshops form part of an EU-funded Programme to strengthen the capacity of the Caribbean Employers' Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), which will enable them to play a more effective role in determining and developing regional policy.
The EU-funded Programme supported by the ILO with CEC and CCL is a three-year Programme1 designed to build the capacity of the regional organizations so that they can participate effectively in regional development and integration processes, and thus fulfil their obligations under the Social Aspects Chapter of the Economic Partnership.Strengthening the regional organizations will also necessitate capacity-building activities of the national organizations affiliated to CEC and CCL respectively, as these organizations will be called upon to provide logistical, technical and political support to the initiatives of the regional organizations.
Already the CEC and CCL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to identify areas where common legislative and regulatory principles having regional application are essential and to formulate in legislation principles facilitating the establishment and operation of business and the free movement of labour with the CARICOM common space. This legislative agenda also includes upholding and advocating for the principles and rights enshrined in ILO Fundamental Conventions. Other regional level activities include a study tour to Brussels in May and an Employers’Forum in Barbados in June. These bipartite meetings represent the first in a series of national activities to be undertaken in each of the 15 countries which are members of CARIFORUM. These one-day meetings of the national employers’ and workers’ organizations will form the platform for further work to be executed within the scope of the three-year EU Programme.
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1The Project funded by the European Union is entitled: “Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to fulfil their Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Obligations: Caribbean Employers’ Confederation and the Caribbean Congress of Labour Component of the Support to Facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in Regional Development and Integration Process.”
Dominica
Location: Fort Young Hotel
Date: Monday, 13 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Rayburn Blackmoore, Minister of Justice, Immigration and National Security
Antigua and Barbuda
Location: Trade Winds Hotel
Date: Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Steadroy Benjamin, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Public Safety,Immigration and Labour
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Location: St. Kitts Marriott Resort
Date: Thursday, 16 July 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (opening ceremony)
Keynote Address: The Hon. Vance Amory, Premier of Nevis, Senior Minister and Minister of Nevis Affairs, Labour, Social Security and Ecclesiastical Affairs
Representatives from national employers’and workers’ organizations will discuss labour issues pertinent to each member State, such as developing and fostering national and regional social dialogue mechanisms, and meeting labour market demands through technical and vocational training.
The workshops form part of an EU-funded Programme to strengthen the capacity of the Caribbean Employers' Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), which will enable them to play a more effective role in determining and developing regional policy.
The EU-funded Programme supported by the ILO with CEC and CCL is a three-year Programme1 designed to build the capacity of the regional organizations so that they can participate effectively in regional development and integration processes, and thus fulfil their obligations under the Social Aspects Chapter of the Economic Partnership.Strengthening the regional organizations will also necessitate capacity-building activities of the national organizations affiliated to CEC and CCL respectively, as these organizations will be called upon to provide logistical, technical and political support to the initiatives of the regional organizations.
Already the CEC and CCL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to identify areas where common legislative and regulatory principles having regional application are essential and to formulate in legislation principles facilitating the establishment and operation of business and the free movement of labour with the CARICOM common space. This legislative agenda also includes upholding and advocating for the principles and rights enshrined in ILO Fundamental Conventions. Other regional level activities include a study tour to Brussels in May and an Employers’Forum in Barbados in June. These bipartite meetings represent the first in a series of national activities to be undertaken in each of the 15 countries which are members of CARIFORUM. These one-day meetings of the national employers’ and workers’ organizations will form the platform for further work to be executed within the scope of the three-year EU Programme.
________________
1The Project funded by the European Union is entitled: “Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to fulfil their Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Obligations: Caribbean Employers’ Confederation and the Caribbean Congress of Labour Component of the Support to Facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in Regional Development and Integration Process.”