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The Ministry of Labour and the Public Service collaborated with the National Tripartite Council to host a Validation Workshop at the National Training Agency (NTA) yesterday, where officials discussed the issue of maternity benefits for workers. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 183 aims to promote the health and safety of mothers and children during pregnancy and after childbirth. “I know significant progress has been made in that avenue,” Labour and Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said yesterday. “[However], many women still talk about things like postpartum that still aren’t addressed. “So that is what is going to be addressed in this convention – all of the nuances that affect pregnant workers or mothers and their well-being in terms of going back to work, in terms of when they have to leave work, and in terms of being assured that they have security of tenure during the time that they become a mother.” Director of Labour Howard Thompson highlighted the importance of C183 being approved. “Notwithstanding the complexity of C183 and the minor gaps between the convention and our current behavioral legislation, I am confident that the cadre of professionals gathered in this room will be able to identify the critical gaps and make recommendations to close those gaps,” he said. “The recommendation is to increase the benefits for maternity, and I can’t say that without speaking about paternity, because what this overall process does is it helps to improve and strengthen the social and therefore economic fiber of our country.”
