The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

STRATEGIES for tackling the country’s troubling unemployment rate and other labour issues will be discussed in a series of meetings this week as the Bahamas hosts an international forum on labour.

Labour Minister Shane Gibson announced at the Department of Public Service yesterday that delegates from 25 countries and more than six international organisations have arrived to Nassau for the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour.

The conference, which is supported by the Organisation of American States, starts today and will end on Friday.

The discussions will centre on issues related to labour ministries, their policies, “and a number of other issues that impact the world of work,” Mr Gibson said.

“It is therefore with great pleasure that the Ministry of Labour for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas has accepted the invitation to host these very vital meeting that will address matters of regional concern with our counterparts from ministries of labour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said.

Labour Director Harcourt Brown explained the purpose of the meetings is to discuss specific issues dealing with unemployment, decent work, occupational safety and health.

“They will be covering subjects that deal primarily with labour market information and the institutional strengthening of ministries of labour, dealing with labour expectorates, and basically best practices that each ministry brings to the table,” he said.

“As you know, here in the Bahamas, our concern primarily as a ministry right now would be with respect to unemployment and the extent to which we could strengthen our public employment service. And so these would be some of the discussions that we would be having.”

The forum starts with a workshop dealing with fair working conditions, Mr Brown said, and the meetings are “going to be concentrating on the most vulnerable groups.”

He said: “You will find that international ministries of labour are concerned, particularly, with unemployment figures as regards to youth unemployment and particularly, unemployment among females.”

In addition to that, there will be two working group meetings dealing with “specific subjects that came from the last conference.”

“Certainly the subjects we will be covering are a wide range of subjects that deal primarily with the world of work within this hemisphere,” Mr Brown said.

The Bahamas has been a member of OAS since 1982. This conference is held every two years.