Joni Musabayana, Director of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Caribbean Office, wants the trade union movement in Grenada to work with Government and private sector employers to ensure the legal framework that guarantees workers’ rights is up-to-date and fit for purpose.
“The biggest frontier to respecting workers’ rights is through labour laws…the amendment of the Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act 10 years later have still not yet been adopted,” Musabayana said, while addressing the 2024 May Day celebrations. “I urge you comrades to work with the government, to work with employers to ensure that the legal framework that guarantees your rights, which is the labour law, is up-to-date and fit for purpose. This is a challenge that I hope next year when we are here, you will be able to say we made progress in.”
The Zimbabwean national took up the post of the Director of ILO Caribbean Office in October 2023.
He told the hundreds of workers who gathered at the Fond Playing field in St Patrick that the world of work is changing, and this is causing some challenges for the labour movement. “The world of work is changing, and this places specific challenges on the union movement and in Grenada the issue of temporary work in my visit here, is what disturbs me the most. Workers can work 10, 20 years without accruing the necessary benefits so that they can look forward to retirement. This is a struggle, comrades that you need to face head on.”
Government has announced that it will be undertaking pension reform for public officers whose right to a non-contributory pension is guaranteed in the constitution.
In his deliberation, Musabayana, who is in Grenada at the invitation of the Government, called for all workers to be sufficiently protected and to retire in dignity, saying, “The issue of Pension reform, the issue of ensuring that all workers can and must be sufficiently protected in terms of safety and health, occupational safety, and health but much more so their social security benefit, is most urgent.”
He said, “We at the ILO look forward to working with you in making sure that all workers whether in the private sector, the public sector, in the informal economy are sufficiently protected and they can all look forward to retirement with dignity.”
Musabayana is expected to lead the ILO’s efforts in promoting social justice, decent work, and inclusive economic growth across the 13 Member States and 9 non-metropolitan territories in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
