Hon. Dion Foulks /Minister of State
NASSAU, Bahamas – Dr. Ana Teresa Romero, director of the International Labour Organization’s sub-regional office for the Caribbean, will be the guest speaker at the October 22 Tripartite Forum between the government, employers and trade unions beginning 8:30am at the British Colonial Hilton.
The forum is under the theme: The importance of social dialogue in achieving and maintaining industrial harmony.
“We intend to utilize the Tripartite Forum approach as a platform for reducing or eliminating the need for spontaneous out breaks of industrial action,” said Minister of Labour and Maritime Affairs Dion Foulkes.
Beginning Tuesday, Dr. Romero will also participate in a two-day tripartite consultation to develop the Decent Work Country Programme for The Bahamas.
This takes place at the boardroom of the College of the Bahamas’ Michael H Eldon Centre, Thompson Boulevard.
This consultation follows the Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum held in Barbados in October 2006 when consensus was reached on the need to promote and realize decent work for all in the Caribbean.
At the end of the forum, the tripartite partners committed to formulating Decent Work Country Programmes to advance decent work priorities in national development agendas.
The purpose of next week’s Tripartite National Consultation is to reach consensus on the priority areas for inclusion in the draft Decent Work Country Programme for the Bahamas for submission to and approval by the tripartite constituents.
The Tripartite Forum was initiated in 2000 when Mr. Foulkes was first appointed Minister of Labour.
“We implemented with much success a mechanism which enabled us to circumvent numerous industrial actions – the tripartite discussions which we held with key stakeholders in the various industry sectors,” said Mr. Foulkes, a former trade unionist.
“As Minister with responsibility for labour, I will work collaboratively and untiringly with our social partners in the trade union movement and employer associations to ensure that good labour relations become the order of the day in our Bahamaland.”
