Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton today disclosed that plans are on stream to re-establish the labour Ministry in a way that will enhance the skill sets and safeguard the welfare of all Guyanese.
Photo Credit: (BIT)
The Minister made these statements when he opened the Government’s debate of the 2020 Budget, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Minister Hamilton said the revamped Ministry would focus on capacity building, human development, and the protection of workers’ rights.
He explained that special attention would be placed on training and employees’ welfare, including housing, healthcare, and access to education, among others.
The Labour Minister added that the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), which falls within the Ministry’s purview, will have to be restructured to equip young people with the skills needed to be competitive in the 21st century.
“We have already put in place the system to ensure that we can train fibre optic installers, software developers and web developers, computer repair technicians, information technology and data management specialists, network design and analyst, for these are new programmes that we will implement.”
Minister Hamilton noted that the Government also recognised that oil and gas training would have to be included in BIT’s training programme.
“We have already engaged the American Chambers. We have already engaged Exxon. We have already engaged Tullow. We have already had conversations with the ILO [International Labour Organization], which will help us to do the necessary training,” Minister Hamilton said.
The BIT’s structure would also be remodelled and retooled to include women, he added.
[Extracted and Modified from Caribbean Trakker]
