–by Government’s failure to attend ILO conference

Dear Editor,
THE Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) is publicly registering its consternation at the failure of Government to attend the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Annual Conference for two consecutive years.The ILO conference is the forum where Government, employers and workers’ organisations meet to discuss issues that impact the well-being of each group. These discussions guide the conceptualisation and development of conventions and programmes.

The 2016 Conference is being held from 1st-13th June in Geneva, Switzerland. It would have been to the nation’s advantage for Guyana to be represented, where involvement would have taken place in the discussions and shaping of policies and programmes. Guyana would have also benefited from the input of other participants.

When the GTUC learnt that Guyana will once again not be attending this important international event, efforts were made to ascertain the reason(s) for non-participation. GTUC was advised that the Government does not have the money to attend.

GTUC finds it instructive that while the Government claims it could not find the funding to attend and participate in the conference, at the same time, Minister Keith Scott, who has responsibility for labour and was identified to be at the conference, has travelled to Europe for only God knows what.

An area that will inform this year’s conference agenda is the Green Economy, given its prominence on the global stage. With the Government’s claim that it is pursuing said approach to development, it would have been to Guyana’s interest and benefit to have input in the programmes ILO will put in place for regions and countries, such as capacity building for actors in the state and non-state sectors.

This Government is put on notice that it has to be mindful of labour’s role and importance in any developmental agenda, and its responsibility to participate at regional and international bodies that would impact this most vital resource of every country. It is of concern to the Labour Movement that workers continue to be treated as incidental to production and productivity, even though neither can be achieved without their input.

GTUC recognises that every government operates with limited and scarce resources equally as it calls on this Government to make judicious determination in its spending and the prioritisation of events, of which the ILO conference should be within the top priority.

Outside of non-attendance of ILO conferences, GTUC continues to receive complaints from workers that they are being turned away from the Ministry of Social Protection when they seek to lodge complaints against employers. The process in industrial relations on matters of such nature is not to turn away complainants, but to activate a process to investigate and resolve the complaints.

GTUC once again is nudging the Government to establish a Ministry of Labour, which would be mandated to address labour and its attendant issues.

During the six months that Minister Broomes held the portfolio of labour responsibilities, strident efforts were taken to uphold time-honoured principles, conventions and laws in the interest of all: workers, employers and Government. This has been an approach consistent with good governance and ensuring a stable industrial relations climate. Efforts must be made to restore and build on good practices.

NATASHA MOSELEY,
Administrative Assistant, GTUC