ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Dec 10, CMC – The Grenada government Tuesday said it had filed 18 reports with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in September last year and it is moving towards a comprehensive review of the labour code in the first quarter of 2025.
Labour Minister Claudette Joseph told Parliament that it was the government’s intention to have had the review this year but that was not possible because the intention is to conduct consultations with the various stakeholders before the amendment is presented to legislators.
She said that Grenada as a signatory to the ILO convention has failed to comply with the reporting requirements and n the process of putting the reports together, several weaknesses had been identified in domestic legislation.
“I am pleased to announced to this Honourable House that on 16th September 2024, we filed 18 reports that were outstanding some of them was overdue by a decade,” said Joseph, explaining that these reports range from matters pertaining to workmen compensation in agriculture to occupational safety and health; freedom of association and the right to organise as well as public contracts, protection of wages and the right to collective bargaining.
“One of the benefits of filing these reports, is that they allow states to readily recognise gaps in domestic legislation…So in preparing the reports for filing we were able to identify certain gaps that we hope to fill when we do the comprehensive amendment to the labour code which we aim to accomplish before the end of the first quarter in 2025,” she told Parliament.
According to Joseph, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, which came into office in June 2022, inherited a situation at the Ministry of Labour where the country was in default of its obligations under the ILO convention.
She said Grenada was not complying with article 22 of the ILO Constitution which states that each of the member countries agrees to make an annual report to the ILO on the measures which it has taken to give effect to the provisions of Conventions to which it is a party.
“Grenada’s last report we filed was in 2015 and as a result the country was in default. The ILO conventions cover a wide area of social and labour issues including basic human rights, minimum wages, industrial relations, employment policy, social dialogue, social security and other issues,” she added.
CMC/ls/ir/2024