Labour ministry calls for closer working dialogue with private sector |14 September 2017

Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Minister, Myriam Telemaque, has called for a closer working dialogue between workplaces and the ministry with the aim of enhancing partnership with that sector of our economy.

Minister Telemaque launched the call during her visit to the Global Supplies Centre (GSC), based at the Free Trade Zone within the grounds of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at Bois de Rose. GSC specialises in the importation and wholesale distribution of goods and other products sold to hotels, major tourism establishments and local retailers.

Accompanied by a delegation of senior officers from her ministry as part of her on-going programme to enhance partnership with the private sector, Minister Telemaque was taken on a tour of the premises and also met the company’s management and staff.

Issues raised by the staff focused on their monthly salaries, overtime, multi-tasking in their daily jobs, time-off requests to attend to their personal matters.  The general observation after talking to the staff is that the company has been experiencing high staff turnover that have resulted on their heavy reliance on foreign workers.

In her meeting, Minister Telemaque explained that the ministry responsible for employment was taking a new approach to have a closer working dialogue and improve industrial relations within the private sector through consensual and understanding working relations for the betterment of workplaces.

“Today, my delegation and I have witnessed that you all work in a conducive and satisfactory working environment.  The possibility for it to be further improved exists but that will come with both the management and staff coming together as a team and prepared to work closely with the ministry responsible for employment,” Minister Telemaque said.

She recommended with full assurance that her ministry will provide its assistance to the management of Global Supplies Centre to work on an action plan in order to have in place a proper and effective human resource structure that will timely address issues that staff may have and determine a comprehensive localisation of posts.

“My ministry’s vision is to ensure that there is good work relations between the employer and employee for the betterment of the company as the workforce contributes towards its commercial success,” Minister Telemaque reiterated.