15 for labour advisor board

At least 15 representatives from Government, employers and workers will be part of the Employment Relations Advisory Board (ERAB) that will sit next Wednesday to deliberate on issues in the labour sector.

Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh confirmed this in an interview yesterday and said ERAB had to be constituted as per the guideline in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 144.

“That is something we had breached in the past, as far as the membership was concerned, it was not proper,” he said.

“Convention requires an equal number of representation from the most representative employers’ organisation, the most representative workers’ organisation and Government.

“We have invited Government, employers and workers. They have all sent their nominations and we are having five from each side so there are 15 in the advisory board,” Mr Singh said.

Following the meeting of the board, Mr Singh said they would also look into the convening of wages councils and getting into the labour law review.

“We have said before, this has been overdue since 2015.

“The commitment made by the previous government in Geneva in 2015 was never honoured and we’re going to make sure that we get on with that.”

According to Mr Singh, they also planned to address the Essential National Industries (Employment) Decree 2011 list, which he said had to be in compliance with the list provided by ILO.

“We are also looking at the Public Order Act that infringes on the rights of people, that needs to be amended and these are some of the key areas we are going to focus on straight away.”