News, Top Story

KING’S LABOUR PLATE PILED HIGH

Image: Labour Minister Stephenson King

NWU Serves New Minister a Tough Agenda

img:LABOUR Minister Stephenson King
LABOUR Minister Stephenson King

LABOUR Minister Stephenson King will have his hands filled dealing with ongoing industrial relations matters as he settles into his first full week as the Minister with responsibility for that portfolio.

The National Workers Union (NWU), one of the most powerful trade unions in the country, yesterday welcomed the decision to assign him to the Labour portfolio and said that it was prepared and willing to work closely with him. However as Minister, King would have to deal efficiently with a number of ongoing matters, the Union said.

The NWU is already calling on King to breathe new life in the Ministry of Labour, claiming that that Ministry has been in a comatose state for five years.

The NWU has, over the years, repeatedly expressed its displeasure with the Ministry citing its tardiness in dealing with matters that have to do with employer-employee relations.

The Trade Union Federation (TUF) has also publicly expressed its discontentment with the Ministry’s Labour Department, claiming that it has not been functioning efficiently especially when it comes to policing the labour laws.

Even the Ministry’s permanent secretary, Titus Preville at one time mounted pressure on the Ministry over its performance claiming that the public’s perception of the Labour Department was negative..

The NWU is also calling on King to settle industrial relations impasses at WASCO and St. Jude Hospital that are currently at mediation level.

These two institutions have been hotbeds of industrial action in recent times with management and employees locking horns ever so often.

Another area the NWU is calling on King to look into is in providing training opportunities and attachments for Department of Labour employees.

The Union has called for a cessation of the “auction sale” of work permits by the Ministry and re-establishment of “traditional interests” to advise on their issuance. It wants the machinery responsible for holding mediation and conciliation sessions modernized and recommends the appointment of a Deputy Labour Commissioner with the capacity and passion to execute the responsibilities of the position.

The NWU wants King to establish a Research and Education Unit with responsibilities for preparation and presentation of educational programmes to the public and to vigorously pursue and negotiate a bigger quota of the External Farm Labour Programme.

“The NWU feels very strongly that a new thrust is needed to drive the work of the Department and the opportunity is now available,” it noted in a media release yesterday.

Micah George is an established name in the journalism landscape in St. Lucia. He started his journalism tutelage under the critical eye of the Star Newspaper Publisher and well known journalist, Rick Wayne, as a freelancer. A few months later he moved to the Voice Newspaper under the guidance of the paper’s recognized editor, Guy Ellis in 1988.

Since then he has remained with the Voice Newspaper, progressing from a cub reporter covering court cases and the police to a senior journalist with a focus on parliamentary issues, government and politics. Read full bio...

2 Comments

  1. …..does union members pay dues?……..if the answer is yes;…….then the question is: what do they get in return in terms of health benefits, education, job training and apprenticeship?….the government cannot do everything!!

  2. SAMJ
    SHUT YOURAZZZSTINKING SPONGE AZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ U CRAB
    YOU AND YOUR NEW FOUND LOVE PM COULD GET THE JOBS AND EVERYTHING NEEDED 4 A BETTER COUNT-TREE
    YOUR MASSA ALLEN CAN GET 3-USA VISA / COST-U-LESS PETROL / COOKING GAS 3 HOUSING / LAND TAX 3-UP VAT .
    WE GO SEE WITHING A FEW MORE MONTH DE STATE OF DE ECONOMY
    U ALL STARTED WITH A MASSIVE FANFARE IN VIEUX FORT ($COST THE TAX PAYERS ONE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND AND 66 CENTS. )
    THINGS ALREADY GETTING HARD IN DE PLACE LIKE DIAMOND AND GRANIT
    THOSE CLOWN’S LIKE ALLEN CAN’T JUGGLE THAT.

    SAMJ
    YOU ALREADY SHOWING DISGRACE DOH HIDE YOUR FACE, YOU ELECT DEM
    EVERY THING GETTING SKY HIGHER
    PRICE OF GAS GETTING HIGHER, EVEN DE GASTRIC IN YOU STOMACH INFLATE
    SAMJ
    DE GAS ALREADY BAD IN YOU ASS AND YOU GOING TO DROP THAT STINKING FART
    YOU BETTER TIGHTEN YOUR ARSE SAVE IT FOR LATER LEARN HOW TO RECYCLE THINGS COMING FROM YOUR ARSE
    SAMJ
    WHERE YOU GOING TO RUN 2
    THINGS GETTING SO BAD WITH YOU IN YOUR NEW SWEET ST. LUCIA
    YOU WILL HAVE TO GET MONEY TO PAY FOR DE PSYCHIATRIST FEE
    OR YOU GO START PRAYING FOR GUY JOSEPH’S VOODOO GRANDFATHER DE WITCH-DOCTOR
    TO BEWITCH YOU BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO SUFFER WITH GERIATRIC,
    WITH RATTLING NERVE
    WITH HEART PAIN
    WITH HEAD PAIN
    WITH NECK PAIN
    WITH BACK PAIN
    WITH ASS PAIN
    YOU WILL HAVE TO LOVE PRAYING 4 PAIN TO FORGET YOUR PROBLEMS.

    SAMJ
    YOU SUCH A MIX-DECOMPOSE LIFELESS DUNG.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend