Government Looking To Revamp Department Of Labour

The government is making strides to ratify many of the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Labour Minister Dr Virginia Albert-Poyotte disclosed during a pre-cabinet press conference that the government is collaborating with the ILO to ensure that Saint Lucia upholds employment standards. “So the ILO will be working with us to ratify a number of these conventions so that we comply with ILO standards. The Department of Labour is going through a major transformation,” she said. Albert-Poyotte says the goal is to ensure that employers, employees and the Labour Department will cooperate to resolve industrial disputes. This, she says, is in hopes of limiting disputes between employers and their staff thereby ensuring business continues smoothly. “We want to establish what we call the tripartite group, where you have the government, the trade union, and the employers working together. The whole idea is to ensure that there is industrial peace in the country,” she explained. The Minister says the government will work to prevent extended business delays due to labour disputes. “We would engage more in preventative measures rather than trying to cure, so that when there are disputes between employers and employees, we can intervene as a government...