In many Member States of the Caribbean Community, International Labour Day will be commemorated on May 1st. This commemoration has its origin in the struggle of workers for better working conditions and living standards, such as the eight-hour working day. However in its current form International Labour Day has evolved into an occasion that, among other things, lauds the spirit of unity amongst workers.
Our Community, which is celebrating this year its 30th Anniversary, owes a great debt to Labour, as it is in that sector that the early stirrings for a united Caribbean was first given voice, more than 70 years ago. It is in that same spirit that a struggle for unity must now be waged not only to encompass workers but also to embrace the wider society. This mission should be considered as key in order for our Community to face the challenges brought about by rapidly progressing globalisation in all its dimensions and our response to the phenomena surrounding it.
To name just a few of these challenges: the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the need to increase productivity, the need to become more competitive, in the face of changing world trading conditions, high job insecurity, high levels of unemployment and escalating crime. All these challenges, which impact on workers and their families in a variety of ways, require a united response.
The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community has taken various decisions to deal with these challenges, important among these being the decision to establish a CARICOM Single Market and Economy and the establishment of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS.
With respect to the CARICOM Single Market and Economy I can inform you that our Heads of Government reaffirmed in February 2003 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago during the 14th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference that by July 2003 their determination to ensure the free movement of skilled workers, university graduates, artistes, musicians, media workers and sports persons, should be fully operational within the Single Market.
The free movement of skilled workers is one of the most people-oriented measures of our CARICOM Single Market and Economy arrangements and I’m therefore proud to inform you that one of the supportive measures, namely the CARICOM Agreement on Social Security is now fully operational in all Member States with an existing national social security system.
This Agreement provides for the transfer of a worker’s contributions to social security arrangements, such as pension plans and national insurance, in one Member State to be taken into account in calculating benefits under the applicable legislation of another Member State, should he or she migrate to that country. The Agreement, which came into effect on April 1st, 1997, is applicable to all workers. In fact, in a number of Member States, CARICOM Nationals are already receiving benefits under the Agreement.
Notwithstanding this success, much still needs to be done with respect to CSME measures and other key labour issues, such as the enactment of modern labour legislation, the establishment of social dialogue structures at all levels of society, the implementation of concrete actions to combat HIV/AIDS in the World of Work and the reduction of high unemployment levels.
Next week, in the period 7 – 9 May, the Secretariat will convene a high level tripartite labour meeting in Georgetown, Guyana to further discuss some of these key labour issues, most notably the free movement of skills and unemployment in the Caribbean Community.
Let me emphasise that our Community will only be able to confront these challenges successfully if all relevant stakeholders are united and are operating in a spirit of harmony. It is therefore my wish that on International Labour Day 2003 workers throughout the Community will pledge to realise unity amongst workers and harmony among the social partners, that is among Governments, employers and workers in order to combat the various challenges, which confront our Region.
In the oft-repeated words of the General-Secretary of the Caribbean Congress of Labour, Mr. George DePeana “we can either swim together or drown separately.”
I whole-heartedly endorse these sentiments but hope that we will swim together and that the coming year would witness an outpouring of both productivity and resultant benefits to our workers,* who are so vital to ensuring the achievement, viability and sustainability of our CARICOM Single Market and Economy and indeed the prosperity of our society.
Let me end by wishing all workers a very happy International Labour Day 2003.
