Mr. Giovanni di Cola

Director, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean

International

Labour

Organization

An Update Towards Achieving the

Conclusions of the

8th Ministers of Labour Meeting, 2013

Role and Importance of Ministries of Labour

Meetings of Ministers of Labour more strategic:

18th Inter-American Conference of Ministers of

Labour projecting Caribbean issues into Latin

America:

Colombia, (November 2013)

26th COHSOD meeting focusing specifically on the

decent work agenda and gender issues:

Guyana (May 2014)

18th ILO American Regional meeting with a side

event focusing on climate change:

Peru (October 2014)2

Role and Importance of Ministries of Labour

Issues:

What areas of interest / focus can the ILO assist with?

What can the ILO do to support more and better social

dialogue at national levels?

What measures need to be taken to ensure the

principles of the Decent Work Agenda are reflected in

national development strategies?

3

Legislation

The ILO has assisted countries to amend their labour codes

to reflect the realities of a modern labour market.

Five Caribbean countries signed the Regional Latin

America and the Caribbean Initiative Free of Child Labour.

Implemented projects in Guyana and Jamaica to

eradicate child labour.

Facilitated workshops for Industrial Court judges on gender

equality, occupational safety and health and sexual

harassment.

Assisted countries in identifying regulatory barriers to an

enabling environment for sustainable enterprises.4

Legislation

Issues:

The Caribbean model legislation was completed 20

years ago. Should “harmonisation” entail identical

legislation? Is a better option setting out principles to

be incorporated into national legislation?

Given the cross-cutting issues of gender, migration

and application of core labour standards,

what support can be given to ratification of

Convention 189 relating to domestic workers?

What support can be given to have more member

States sign the Declaration on the “Free of Child

Labour” initiative? 5

Movement of Labour

ILO has contributed to the development of a national

labour migration policy in Trinidad and Tobago.

The OECS is moving forward with migration and

integration of citizens with regard to ID requirements

and work permits.

A study was completed by the ILO on the labour

market impact of the NVQ/CVQ systems in three

Caribbean countries.

6

Movement of Labour

Issues:

Given that there are examples in place of individual

country arrangements such as the Canadian agricultural

seasonal workers scheme, how can a broader, effective

framework be developed to support the free movement of

labour, complete with mutual recognition systems of

vocational qualifications?

What are the key areas of social protection and portability

of benefits and rights that need to be addressed?

Given the importation of skilled and unskilled labour from

countries outside the Caribbean, what can be done to

advertise vacancies and encourage intra-regional

movement of people?7

Regional Integration and Policy Coherence

The ILO has forged closer, more formal relations with

CARICOM and CARIFORUM institutions, formally

participating in each other’s meetings.

CARICOM officially supports the ILO’s Decent Work

Agenda and joint efforts are underway to ensure

implementation of it.

CARICOM recognises the regional employers’ and

workers’ representative organisations (CEC and CCL)

and supports tripartite social dialogue on a regional

level.

8

Regional Integration and Policy Coherence

The ILO has developed, introduced and / or installed a

Labour Management Information System in all six OECS

countries as well as in the Bahamas, Guyana, St

Maarten and Trinidad and Tobago. CARICOM has

taken over the project to ensure that the integration

and coherency that the system offers can be utilised

throughout the region on an on-going basis.

Issues:

What support can the ILO give to develop policy

coherence in areas of mutual concern to the Caribbean

region?

Which are the most effective forums where such

mutually supporting policies can be developed? 9

Training and Education

An ILO subregional meeting on anticipating skills in

the tourism sector in partnership with the ILO

Knowledge Development Centre (CINTERFOR), the

Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and SENAI-

Brazil, followed by a seven month distance learning

programme and a further follow-up meeting was

conducted for representatives from National Training

Authorities, TVET Councils, OECS, CEC and CCL to

enable them to extend the knowledge in undertaking

a skills gap analysis and projection to other sectors.

10

Training and Education

The ILO supported work-readiness workshops for young

people, youth employment forums, youth entrepreneurship

and cooperatives as well as entrepreneurial strengthening for

women in the tourism sector and owners of micro businesses

and budding entrepreneurs in a number of countries.

The ILO provided technical advice on skills policies to

member states and the Association of National Training

Authorities (CANTA). Members of National Boards of

Industrial, Technical and Vocational Education and Training

had their capacity strengthened to implement quality

management and delivery of TVET programmes, curriculum

development, competency-based delivery and assessment,

entrepreneurship education and curriculum implementation.

11

Training and Education

Issues:

What is the best process to ensure the “end users” of the

education and training systems have input to curricula?

What is the best vehicle for sharing curricula and

certification systems?

12

Social Dialogue and Tripartism

The ILO has worked with tripartite partners to build

social dialogue mechanisms and structures at

national level.

The outcomes of the 13th Labour Ministers meeting in

2013 and the COHSOD meeting in 2014 reinforced

support for a structured approach to regional social

dialogue.

The EU agreed to fund a project through CARICOM

and the ILO to strengthen the capacity of CEC and

CCL so that the voice of employers and workers could

be taken into account in a systematic way when

dealing with policy setting on a regional basis.13

Social Dialogue and Tripartism

Issues:

What needs to be done at a national level to institute

effective and systematic social dialogue?

How can Ministers of Labour ensure the views of

employers and workers are taken into account when

national economic and social policies are being

developed?

14

Social Protection

The ILO had input through high-level presentations to

CARICOM meeting in 2014 on regional social

protection issues.

Issues:

How can the ILO assist countries develop their social

security systems taking into account ILO

Recommendation, 2012 (No 202)?

How can countries ensure tripartite input when social

security issues are discussed in wider forums led by

agencies or donors which do not traditionally

recognise the key role of the social partners?15

Productivity and Competitiveness

The ILO has held workshops in countries to raise

awareness of the importance of productive practices

and how to achieve higher productivity.

Four studies on formalising the informal economy were

undertaken in the Caribbean in 2013 under the

regional FORLAC programme which provide an

inventory of policies, strategies and schemes that

have been implemented across the region.

A focused RBSA-funded project on Formalisation of

the Informal Economy in one rural and one urban

setting in Jamaica is currently underway with the

expectation that the pilot system developed can be

used elsewhere in the Caribbean. 16

Productivity and Competitiveness

Issues:

Should productivity indicators be developed and

agreed for application in the Caribbean region so that

comparable data can assist in productivity

enhancement at a national level?

What are the best mechanisms for sharing experiences

and learning?

17

Employment and Trade

Employers’ Organisations and their members

throughout the Caribbean have had their awareness

raised about the link between the implementation of

labour standards and market access.

An ILO tripartite delegation participated in the Small

Islands Developing States (SIDS) Conference in Samoa

in 2014 and in the ILO’s side event Promoting Closer

Economic Integration for Full Employment and Decent

Work in the Caribbean.

18

Employment and Trade

An EU-funded project was signed with the ILO in

December 2014 to strengthen the capacity of the

regional organisations of employers and workers (CEC

and CCL) to have an effective voice in regional

forums – with a particular focus on the Social Chapter

of the EPA.

Issues

How can the ILO assist in ensuring labour aspects to

trade agreements are more widely understood and

applied?

Would it be useful to have work done to determine the

impact on employment trends by trade agreements?19

Future Focus –

Decent Work Country Programmes

The DWCPs continue to be the focus for ILO work and

are reviewed in a timely manner to ensure smooth

renewal processes are put in place or, on the request

of constituent members, new DWCPs are developed.

To ascertain their relevance, a DWCP review was held

in St Vincent and the Grenadines which will serve as a

precursor to the High Level Evaluation of all DWCPs

and other work carried out by the ILO in the

Caribbean region in the coming months.

20

Future Focus –

Decent Work Country Programmes

Issues:

Given the holistic approach being taken by

Governments and the variety of topics of increasing

importance which impact on workplaces,

should there be wider consultations with Government

Departments in the DWCP renewal or development

process?

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