C183 Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (Click to access Convention)

This is a link to the the ILO'S Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 which revised the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, and Recommendation, 1952.

THE ROLE OF NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN EMPLOYER ORGANISATIONS

Click on the above link to read a Working Paper on the critical role Employer Organisations play in Europe

Maternity Protection Act, 1998

Looking for the Maternity Protection Act? Look no more. Just click on the link and also look out for my summary of the Act. You should also read my Newsday column "Bringing baby to work". If you have delays with the link then cut and paste the link in your browser http://www.labour.gov.tt/documents/lablaw/Maternity%20Protection%20Act,1998.pdf

Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act

Looking for Act 32 of 1985? Look no more. Just click on the link and look out for my summary of the Act. If you never heard about the Swan Hunter case then you need to!

Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2004 (click to find the Act)

Occupational Health and Safety (Amendment) Act, 2006 (click to find the Act)

This link will take you to the OSH Amendment Act, 2006. Remember the OSH Act 2004 and the OSH Amendment Act 2006 must be read as one, since the 2006 Act makes changes to the 2004 Act.

Judicial Review Act 2000 (click to find the Act)

Labour Shortages and Full Employment

OSHA- Limping Along

Sexual Harrassment (click for Newsday column)

It is natural for employers and employees to focus on the obvious: Personal protective equipment, safe plant and systems of work, safe access and egress, emergency procedures and information, training and supervision. Nevertheless, while harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace have not been afforded their own space in local law and litigants have had to straddle various statutes and common law positions and industrial relations practices to seek redress, the OSH legislation may actually create an opportunity for more litigation.

Corporate Social Responsibility (click for Newsday column)

In this Newsday column I make the point that while CSR is great "A word of caution though is that all of this great green stuff can create a lot of cynicism in the workplace. It’s difficult to motivate stressed and burnt out employees to put aside their own issues to deal with all these great global goals that CSR is all about. "

National Insurance Funding Issues- Part 1(click for Newsday column)

In Part one of this 3 Part column I make the point that the increased NI contributions assume certain things. The challenge is for the Fund to meet these assumptions. For example the Actuarial Review is based on a rate of inflation of 5.9 per cent and declining. Is that realistic? Not so far!

"Inflation rates over the period 2000- 2005 averaged 4.58 percent but are projected at 5.9 percent for 2007 and steadily declining to 3.0 in 2016. Again the long term health of the Fund will be linked to inflation and the extent to which it is realistic to project that inflation will get down to 5.9 percent in 2007 (from currently hovering at 8 to 9 percent) and steadily decline thereafter. Inflation eats up purchasing power but rising inflation is a constant threat to the viability of benefits which are fixed."

National Insuarnce Funding Issues- Part 3 (click for Newsday column)

In Part 3 I say that:

"Notwithstanding the projections for the Fund to go into deficit by 2038, there is pressure on the National Insurance Board and the State to increase the current level of benefits paid National Insurance, mainly to offset inflation and the rising costs of private health care.

The proposed increases in contribution will fund these improved benefits once certain economic conditions are achieved — inflation steadily declines to 3.0 percent by 2016; the Fund achieves an IRR for the period 2008 to 2017 of average 10.5 percent and from 2018 to 2029 of average 8.25 percent; and the demographics follow the projections of the Seventh Actuarial Review.

These are major challenges to the NIB currently and they represent the challenges of being able to meet the improved benefits over the long term to 2048."

National Insurance Funding Issues Part 2 (Click for Newsday column)

In this Part I say that:

" The current projections do not take into consideration further improvements in National Insurance benefits and the real challenge for the National Insurance Fund over the long term will be its ability to finance benefits at current levels and also provide for double digit inflation, price increases and the erosion of purchasing power over the medium term."

TT Economic Performance

Free Movement of Labour

CHILD LABOUR

KFC's labour Issues

Crippling Entrepreneurs

Customer Service

Rural poverty and employment creation

This column was written at the ILO Conference in June 2008 regarding the agenda item "Rural Poverty and Employment Creation" I make the point that:

"Rural farmers and fisher folk cannot bring their villages out of poverty, especially if they have to depend on inoperable margins. Their prices cannot be linked, as they are now, to their desperation to get the crop or catch off their hands because they lack storage or because they lack the time, expertise or sophistication to market their produce.

Instead of being asked to settle for prices at the edge of the fields and on the beach, farmers, fisher folk and rural entrepreneurs must be given a modern view of commodity pricing and “net backs” and they must be allowed to participate more equitably in the mark-up to the end-user."

Retrenchment

The above link is the second part of the column on RBTT's transition to new ownership. In this part I make the point that :

"With some severance packages as attractive as they are, there are employees in every organisation who are quite willing to be paid to leave, but inevitably some will require more than a gentle prod and a fistful of dollars. The challenge is to create that delicate balance between gaining new skill sets and retaining sufficient institutional knowledge — or mind sets — to keep the organization aligned. More importantly, the focus has to shift to the remaining employees and the risk of organisational addiction and the potential for corporate memory loss."

HIV

I say to the Guardian in this link above that:

“Employers see HIV/Aids as a private sexual matter and they tread carefully mainly because it is a taboo subject,even among the most open-minded of employers HIV/Aids is still taboo.”

"Employers need to confront the issue and start talking about HIV/Aids as a national issue and not a private issue"

New Barbados Government

OSHA

In this Guardian interview I express the view that "one of the concerns was Section 15 a of the legislation where a worker had the right to refuse work if he had reason to believe there was a danger within the workplace."

Would workers would abuse this right especially as part of Collective Bargaining where there is no right to strike. Is this a back of the hand reversal of Collymore vs AG?

Losing hope on Child Labour

In this column I make the point that "with the rise in food prices globally — rice, flour and milk — upon which the world’s little ones depend, children are more likely to have their education sacrificed, as the household income is carved up between food and other survival basics."

Read on...

RBTT Transition (click to access Newsday column)

This column deals with some of the issues which arise with a change in ownership - including the prospect of some people suffering from change fatigue

Speech to UWI Graduates 2006 (Click to access speech)

In this speech to UWI Graduates I talk about what employers really want from Graduates and the five L's graduates should be mindful of.

CSME (Click to access speech)

Click on link for my address to a Breakfast Seminar on the subject- Complexities, Benefits and Challenges for Employers - 20th January 2005.