MEMBERS of the Caribbean Workers Network Steering Committee have left Guyana optimistic that this country will be the first in the Caribbean to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Convention Number 189 to protect the domestic category. According to a press statement, from the Ministry of Labour, representatives of the six-country grouping were here for their annual planning meeting and, last Monday, before departing, paid a courtesy call on minister with the portfolio, Dr. Nanda Gopaul.
The minister told the group, which included ILO Representative Paula Robinson and representatives of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, that the instruments of ratification should be at the intentional agency by this month end.
The release said they congratulated the Minister, in anticipation that Guyana will be the first Caribbean nation to ratify this important pact.

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Ratification of it will create the basis for decent work for persons who are employed as household service employees and ensure that their rights are not violated.
The visitors also commended the Guyana Government for enacting a National Minimum Wage and a 40- hour work week in both Private and Public Sectors, which took effect on July 1.
The release said Minister Gopaul reiterated Government’s commitment to implementing the Decent Work Country Programme and ensuring that conditions are safe and healthy for all categories of workers.
The Network, comprising members of Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda, has launched a campaign to encourage signatories to the covenant.
Guyana is represented on the Steering Committee by Ms. Joycelyn Bacchus, Secretary of Red Thread.
Last May 31, they presented a petition with 3,069 signatures to the Labour Minister, supporting a call for CARICOM Governments to support domestic workers in their search for a better life, through the ratifying of ILO Convention Number 189.
Minister Gopaul assured the group that the Government is committed to ratify it, as was indicated by President Donald Ramotar in his address to the nation on the May 26 occasion of Guyana’s Independence Anniversary.