Caribbean Employers’ Organizations to meet in Barbados for CARIFORUM discussions

PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - Thirty-four representatives from nineteen Employers’ Organizations from the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean will participate in a regional Forum entitled “Facilitating Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in Regional Development and Integration Processes”, to be held at the Accra Beach Resort in Christ Church, Barbados, from 22-24 June 2015.

As part of an EU-funded Project1, implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to strengthen the capacity of the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) to play a greater role in regional policy making, participants at the Forum will identify key issues of importance to Employers’ Organizations at the national and enterprise levels, so that CEC can effectively lobby an advocacy strategy on their behalf.

Each organization will present one key area of particular concern or importance to their country/territory, such as:

• Legislative focus to support the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Social Chapter, which incorporates the core ILO Conventions;
• Review of regulatory barriers, to develop an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises;
• TVET institutions – matching skills training to employment needs;
• Climate change and enterprise resilience;
• Migration issues in relation to building a Caribbean Single Market Economy;
• Institutionalizing tripartism at both a national and regional level, to ensure a systemic approach to input from Employers' Organizations on social and economic policies; and
• Productivity and competitiveness, particularly in small and medium enterprises.

Other topics to be discussed at the Forum include Migration and Free Movement of Labour; International Trends Affecting Employers and their Organizations; and Social Dialogue Mechanisms. Findings from a recent study tour to Brussels will be presented on the subject of Regional Tripartite Good Practises and Strategies for National Input.

Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development for Barbados, Sen. the Hon. Dr. Esther Byer-Sukoo is carded to speak at the Opening Ceremony, along with Ambassador Mikael Barford, Head, European Union (EU) Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean; Ms. Anne Knowles, Senior Specialist, Employers’ Activities, ILO; Mr Wayne Chen, President, CEC; and Mr Ian Gooding-Edghill, President, Barbados Employers’ Confederation.

Members of the media are invited to attend the Opening Ceremony, scheduled as follows:
Opening Ceremony: 13:30-14:15 - Monday, 22 June 2015
Accra Beach Resort, Christ Church, Barbados

CONTACT

For further information or to register your interest in covering the Oopening Ceremony at the Forum, please contact:

Dawn Lafond, Communication and Information Management Officer, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Port of Spain, Trinidad
[email protected] / (868) 623-7178 ext 412

Averlon Toussaint, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Port of Spain, Trinidad
[email protected] / (868) 623-7178 ext 411

Mr. Colin (Tony) Walcott, Executive Director, Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC), Barbados, [email protected] / (246) 435-4753

__________________________________

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.”