Media Advisory: National bipartite meeting in Trinidad and Tobago
A series of national bipartite workshops to be conducted in the CARIFORUM member States of Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - 1 Oct 2015 - A national bipartite workshop organized by the ILO together with the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) will take place on Friday, 2nd October at the Kapok Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The workshop follows two other meetings held this week in the CARIFORUM member States of Suriname and Guyana.
These workshops form part of a three-year project1 funded by the European Union (EU) and executed by the ILO, which seeks to build capacity of Caribbean regional workers’ and employers’ organizations so that they can make substantive contributions to policy-setting aimed at regional development and the integration process, and thus fulfil their obligations under the Social Aspects Chapter of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The workshops will provide a forum for employers’ and workers’ organizations to understand their role in the project, to air their concerns on national social and economic issues, and set a common agenda for collaboration between the social partners at the national level.
So far this year, 13 national bipartite meetings have been held in the member States of St Lucia; Grenada; Dominica; Antigua and Barbuda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Haiti; Jamaica; Belize; the Bahamas, Barbados; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; and Guyana. One further bipartite meeting is expected to be convened in the Dominican Republic.
At the workshop in Suriname earlier this week, H.E. Soewarto Moestadja, Minister of Labour noted, "The Government of Suriname commits itself to the further institutionalization of social dialogue with broad mandate…We support the three year ILO-EU Programme for the Caribbean Employers' Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and we hope that this program also succeeds in strengthening the capabilities of our social partners to significantly participate, contribute and feed in to the EPA process. The objective of this Project, is for employers and workers to engage more effectively in social dialogue, which in turn is expected to contribute to the design and implementation of effective social and economic development policies."
For further information on the project please visit: www.ilo.org/caribbean/projects/WCMS_357992
To request further information and to request interviews with Mr. Wayne Chen (CEC) and/or Mr. Chester Humphrey (CCL) please contact:
ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean:
Dawn Lafond, Communication and Information Management Officer | lafond@ilo.org | +1 (868) 623 7178/ 7704 ext 412 or
Averlon Toussaint | toussaint@ilo.org | +1 (868) 623 7178/ 7704 ext 411
www.ilo.org/caribbean
1 The 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.”
These workshops form part of a three-year project1 funded by the European Union (EU) and executed by the ILO, which seeks to build capacity of Caribbean regional workers’ and employers’ organizations so that they can make substantive contributions to policy-setting aimed at regional development and the integration process, and thus fulfil their obligations under the Social Aspects Chapter of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The workshops will provide a forum for employers’ and workers’ organizations to understand their role in the project, to air their concerns on national social and economic issues, and set a common agenda for collaboration between the social partners at the national level.
So far this year, 13 national bipartite meetings have been held in the member States of St Lucia; Grenada; Dominica; Antigua and Barbuda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Haiti; Jamaica; Belize; the Bahamas, Barbados; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; and Guyana. One further bipartite meeting is expected to be convened in the Dominican Republic.
At the workshop in Suriname earlier this week, H.E. Soewarto Moestadja, Minister of Labour noted, "The Government of Suriname commits itself to the further institutionalization of social dialogue with broad mandate…We support the three year ILO-EU Programme for the Caribbean Employers' Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and we hope that this program also succeeds in strengthening the capabilities of our social partners to significantly participate, contribute and feed in to the EPA process. The objective of this Project, is for employers and workers to engage more effectively in social dialogue, which in turn is expected to contribute to the design and implementation of effective social and economic development policies."
For further information on the project please visit: www.ilo.org/caribbean/projects/WCMS_357992
To request further information and to request interviews with Mr. Wayne Chen (CEC) and/or Mr. Chester Humphrey (CCL) please contact:
ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean:
Dawn Lafond, Communication and Information Management Officer | lafond@ilo.org | +1 (868) 623 7178/ 7704 ext 412 or
Averlon Toussaint | toussaint@ilo.org | +1 (868) 623 7178/ 7704 ext 411
www.ilo.org/caribbean
1 The 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.”