Dispute Settlement Tripartite Workshop
|
Dispute Settlement Tripartite Workshop
|
|
Contact: Claudia Monlouis
Tuesday 20 March 2012 – The government of Saint Lucia will implement the Labour Code within its first year in office. This commitment has come from the Minister for Education, Human Resource Development& Labour Honourable Dr. Robert Lewis.
The minister recently gave his full support to the Labour Code during a “Tripartite Workshop” that focussed on “Dispute Prevention & Dispute Settlement” in Saint Lucia. The workshop is being facilitated by the ILO Caribbean Office.
“Of course we have a labour code that ought to be implemented by this government because it has been long over due. The Labour code as I have said on many occasions is one that protects the rights of both the employers and the workers and in any environment it is the government's responsibility to ensure that the rights of all citizens, whether workers or employers are protected.”
The minister continued: “I hope in the first year that the Labour Code will be implemented. The Labour Code has been to parliament at least twice. On both occasions it has been passed in Parliament. So there is no reason for it not to be implemented. Laws are always going to be amended. With time things change and therefore we can always make amendments and I think there is no reason to drag our feet and if there is any reason to make any amendments this can happen. That's what parliament is about.”
Meantime the Minister has commended the efforts of the Labour Department to maintain a healthy tripartite arrangement amongst government, the employers and employees which promotes compromise and consensus. “In the very competitive environment that we live in today, it is very important for us to have a tripartite arrangement where all three areas - labour, the employer, and government can come together and to find very meaningful ways of handling very volatile labour relations. While compromise is a very good word, some think it is a bad word but it is not a bad word because we are trying to reach consensus so we have to give and we have to take.'
Minister Lewis was the feature speaker at the opening of the workshop. |
|
© 2012 Government Information Service. All rights reserved. Read our privacy guidelines.
|
