We met both men at a workshop held by the International Labour Organization, in collaboration with the Caribbean Employers' Confederation and the Caribbean Congress of Labour.
The Caribbean Employers Confederation is a regional organization made up member groups representing the private sectors in each Caribbean Country. The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is Belize's representative on the confederation. The trade unions of each Caribbean country make up a part of the Caribbean Congress of Labour and the NTUCB is Belize's representative.
So, today, Marx would have wept, as labour and capital sat at the same table to discuss common ground, or more specifically, the full implemention CARIFORUM's Economic Partnership Agreement, which makes up a part of the free movement of skilled laborers in CARICOM and CARIFORUM countries. We found out that this forum is about helping skilled laborers in Belize to get ready to compete for jobs in the region:
Ivan Williams - Labour Commissioner
"The ministers of the Caribbean Labor Ministers in March of this year, recognize that there is a need to build capacity among the major stakeholders; that is the employers and workers in respect of their obligations under the CARIFORUM/EU Economic Partnership Agreement. And so they committed at the Labor Minister's meeting this year in March to seek to build the capacities among the employers and the workers in understanding their roles and functions within."
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez - President, BCCI
"It's a joint initiative coordinated by the ILO and funded by the EU of the Caribbean Employers Confederation and the Caribbean Labor Association, in relation to the work that needs to be done in formalizing regional employers and working ethics and arrangements."
Marvin Mora - President, NTUCB
"This is a forum that is geared towards understanding the roles and obligations of the trade unions and also the employers within the social chapter of the EPA, which is the integration of the Caribbean countries and in regards to the issue of labor, we have identified several issues amongst which occupational health and safety, the social security issues and others are highlighted and that's why we are here, to try and find out what CSME is doing, what CARIFORUM's plan is, so that it can be addressed, what mechanisms are there in place, if there are none, how we can contribute to establish some and stuff like that."
Raymond Lytle - Director, Caribbean Employers Confederation
"This program is part of the economic partnership roll out of economic partnership social chapter, which is the agreement with the EU and what we really are promoting is social dialogue. This is the dialogue between the employers and the workers in terms of putting together our labor related matters on the table, on the forefront. We hope to do this through a number of pillars such as through this program which is part of the education program moving around, bringing people up to date on the issues and the framework within which we operate."
David Mossiah - President, Caribbean Congress of Labour
"What we are doing from this, through this project is to engender and to foster the social dialogue mechanism, that is to ensure that all of us are basically on the same level playing field. That is, employers, workers and the government in discussing and responding to the issues that do impact us as a nation - as a people."
Similar workshops have been held across the Caribbean.
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