Guyana to ratify ILO domestic work convention by monthend – Dr Gopaul

Members of the Caribbean Workers Network Steering Committee have left Guyana optimistic that the country will be the first in the Caribbean to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention, Number 189, to protect domestic workers. According to a ministry release, representatives of the six-country network were in Guyana for their annual planning meeting, and on Monday paid a courtesy call on Labour Minister Dr Nanda Kishore Gopaul before departing.

Important convention
The minister told the group, which included an ILO representativePaula Robinson and representatives of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, that the instruments of ratification should be at the ILO by this monthend.
The group congratulated the minister, in anticipation that Guyana will be the first Caribbean country to ratify this important convention.
Ratification of this convention will create the basis for decent work for persons who are employed as household service workers, and ensure that the rights of these workers are not violated.
The network also commended government for enacting a National Minimum Wage and a 40-hour work week for both private and public sector employees, which came into effect on July 1. Minister Gopaul reiterated government’s commitment to implementing the Decent Work Country Programme and ensuring that conditions of work are safe and healthy for all categories of workers.
The network, comprising members of Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda, has launched a campaign to encourage signatories to the convention.
Guyana is represented on the Steering Committee by Joycelyn Bacchus, secretary of Red Thread. On May 31, they presented a petition with more than 3069 signatures to the minister of labour in support of a call for Caricom governments to support domestic workers in their search for a better life, through the ratification of the ILO Convention Number 189.
Minister Gopaul assured the group that the government is committed to ratifying Convention Number 189, as was indicated by President Donald Ramotar in his address to the nation on the occasion of Guyana’s Independence Anniversary on May 26.