ILO Panel: Caribbean must avoid 'labour pandemic'

Experts from Caribbean countries on Wednesday discussed job losses, related legal issues and their consequences in the time of covid19.

In a virtual conference, the panellists agreed that the mass dismissal of workers is not a solution and that agreements must be reached.

Taking part in the conversation organised by the International Labor Organization (ILO) were Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, dean of the Faculty of Law, UWI St Augustine; Lars Johansen, director; Shingo Miyake, labour law and international labour standards specialist; Ariel Pino, social protection and occupational safety and health specialist – all three from the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean; and Sharon Rattan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Nevis Affairs, Labor, Social Security and Ecclesiastical Affairs, St Kitts and Nevis.

The panel highlighted that agreements for the preservation of jobs should be signed or agreed by both parties in the relationship, but for this, the workers must be fully informed of the economic conditions a company is going through.

They said workers can file for any remedy established under the International Labour Standards.

Belle Antoine stressed that termination is not an option.

"These sacrificial measures end up affecting the entire working population," she said.

She said many countries are not implementing worker protection laws, TT and Jamaica in particular. She acknowledged that laws have sometimes been misinterpreted and further study of the regulations is needed.

"The safety of workers is essential, ensuring stability through legal protection and that employers adhere to them," she said. "My recommendation is that countries implement measures based on laws and that they take the examples of other countries in which guarantees and flexibility policy decisions have been made for both employees and employers."This was necessary to avoid the pandemic spreading throught the workforce, she said.

In the Caribbean, Barbados, Dominica, and St Kitts and Nevis have implemented a guaranteed fund, generally administered by public institutions as part of labour ministries, employment agencies, social security institutions or unemployment funds.

The panel agreed that domestic workers are some of the most concerned about not having the protection of law in Caribbean countries.

As a health measure to deal with covid19, governments in many cases have ordered or recommended the closure of workplaces. This inevitably leads to the loss or decrease of the income of the affected stores, restaurants, factories and other establishments.

According to the new ILO Monitor, as of May 27, 2020, 20 per cent of the world's workers lived in countries with compulsory shutdowns for all except essential, workers. An additional 69 per cent lived in countries with required work shutdowns for some sectors or categories of workers, and an additional five per cent in countries with recommended work shutdowns