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JAM | May 19, 2022

Jamaica recognises its workers this week

/ Our Today

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Many activities planned for Workers Week

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange (second right) looks at the newly unveiled bust of Agnes ‘Aggie’ Bernard, an activist in Jamaica’s labour movement, at the unveiling on Wednesday (May 18) at the Kingston Craft Market in downtown Kingston. She is joined by (from left) Chief Technical Director, Social Security Division, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Audrey Deer-Williams; Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Dione Jennings; Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie; and President of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation, (JEF) David Wan. (Photos: JIS)

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica is this week recognising its workers as it rolls out a series of activities to commemorate Workers’ Week, which is being celebrated May 15 to May 23.

The theme for this year’s Workers Week is ‘Repositioning Jamaica’s Labour Market – Post COVID’. Activities for the week include the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Workers Monument on Port Royal Street yesterday.

This monument was erected as a lasting memory and reflection on the plight of the Kingston Port workers, who staged the Kingston Waterfront strike in 1938 for better terms and conditions of work. This workers monument is known as the Agnes ‘Aggie’ Bernard Workers Monument.

FED HUNDREDS OF WORKERS DURING WATERFRONT LABOUR RIOTS

Aggie Bernard is known as the unsung heroine of the 1938 Waterfront Labour Riots, when she fed hundreds of workers during the two-week strike. Minister of Labour and Social Security, Karl Samuda; Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange; Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie and other government officials were in attendance.

MOU signing tomorrow

Tomorrow (May 20) a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed with the Government of Germany to launch the Jamaica-Germany Scholarships programme dubbed “60 scholarship”.

Gillian Corrodus, divisional director for industrial relations and allied services in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, explained that this is a bilateral cooperation activity for labour market support providing study opportunities for Jamaicans at the tertiary level in skills such as digitisation, cybersecurity, technical areas related to service support for electric motor vehicles (automotive industry) and other similar disciplines.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie (second left) and Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange (third right), place wreaths at the Aggie Bernard monument, Kingston Craft Market, downtown Kingston, on May 18, in recognition of National Workers Week/Labour Day. Others looking on are (from left), Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Dione Jennings; Goddaughter of Agnes Bernard, Cordelia Forbes; and President of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation, David Wan. A bust, mounted atop the monument, was unveiled at the event.

Participants will study online, with opportunities to visit Germany. The MOU will also celebrate 60 years of bilateral cooperation between Jamaica and Germany.

On Sunday (May 22) the National Church service in recognition of Workers’ Week and Labour Day will be held at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church, Slipe Road, Kingston, starting at 9:00 a.m. This will be followed by the Labour Relations Awards Banquet on Tuesday (May 31) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, to recognise workers, employers, attorneys and sector-based agencies and institutions that have made a significant contribution to labour in Jamaica.

The awards ceremony is being hosted by Labour Minister Karl Samuda, with the keynote address by Dennis Zulu, regional director of the International Labour Organization (ILO Latin America and the Caribbean).

The western region of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will host a Labour Talks Seminar under the theme ‘Repositioning Jamaica’s Labour Market – Post COVID’ on June 2 at the Royalton Hotel in Trelawny.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange (left), discusses the bust of Agnes ‘Aggie’ Bernard, with sculptor Pamrie Dwyer. during Wednesday’s (May 18) unveiling of the bust, which has been mounted atop the monument in honour of the labour movement activist, at the Kingston Craft Market, downtown Kingston.

The seminar will include a panel discussion examining the impact of the pandemic on the labour market, labour relations locally and globally, and recommendations for national advancement. Participants will include representatives from the legal fraternity, academia, tourism, entertainment, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

This year’s Workers Week activities will extend beyond the week to recognise the contribution of employers and labour in Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence. Workers Week 2022 will culminate with the celebration of Labour Day on Monday (May 23) under the theme ‘Re-igniting a Nation for Greatness – Protect our Heritage and Environment’.

Corrodus pointed out that this year’s theme reflects on the history of labour relations in Jamaica, examines the impact of the pandemic and generates conversations and initiatives to create a more resilient labour market and encourage sustainable development.

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