Caribbean employers meet in Belize
While Belizean leaders were heading south, the leading lights of Caribbean business were heading east, to meet in Belize. This morning I attended the annual general meeting of the Caribbean Employers Confederation.
Forty years ago, the Caribbean Employers Confederation, an umbrella organization of Employers Organization, was formed with the purpose of improving relations with governments and trade unions. According to Marcel Myer, C.E.C.’S President, employers were concerned that their interests are not taken into account when new labor policies are developed.
Marcel Myer, President, C.E.C.
“In the past, employers organizations have had a definite role against the unions. We had a lot of unrest and other problems and the I.L.O. was giving us the possibility to cope with the major problems at the level of an organization.”
Will Momm, Director, ILO
“We have to make sure that the interests of employers are taken into account while social policies are developed. As our interest is to see that employers organizations talk to unions, that unions talk to employers organizations and that together they develop sort of what you would call the social and labor policies of a country.”
For Belizean employers, the concerns are no different. According to Godwin Hulse, the President of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the leading representative of the private sector and the only Belizean organization that is a C.E.C. member, the idea is to have employers solve problems before they occur. Many problems, Hulse says, have been quietly dissolved because of the C.E.C.
Godwin Hulse, President, B.C.C.
“There are a lot of things that we do for employers apart from the other things that we do at the Chamber. We can represent in disputes. We’ve done so successfully. We’ve done so in citrus quietly. It’s up to the employer if he has a difficulty that he can’t handle, we draw on expertise through the I.L.O., of which we are very much apart of their progress.
Because the unions are not very active in Belize right now and I say that with caution because I am not saying that they should become, but I think the relationship has reached a satisfactory level. So this is why you don’t see the sort of militant unions we saw many years ago. So you don’t hear a lot about workers uprising or about employers having to baton down so to speak.”
Today as the fifty members of the Caribbean Employers Confederation meet for the thirty eighth time, high on the agenda will be a discussion on employers’ organizations in the twenty first century.
Will Momm
“Many people see that there are a lot of risks in globalization, others see opportunities. Now the major change will be that the enterprises will have to become more competitive in this New World environment. We will lose; everybody loses. Protection, privileges and preferences will be gone in a very short time. So the Caribbean enterprises will have to be competitive, more competitive. This requires a new way of collaborating – a collaboration with employers and unions.”
While the visiting delegation remain in the country over the next three days, they will also have a chance to sample or take as a souvenir a wide assortment of locally made products. The Belize Chamber of Commerce has put out a display of the works of some of its members.
During the conference delegates will attend a number of workshops, on topics including technology, export processing zones and the future of employers organizations.
