Mr. Pegus and Mr. Reid
Mr. Clive Pegus, a leading Labour Reform Consultant in the Caribbean, was in Anguilla this week at the start of a long-overdue revision of the island’s labour laws and labour code. The Trinidad and Tobago national was recruited from the Trinidad-based regional office of the International Labour Organisation at the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Anguilla.
“The intention is that all of Anguilla’s labour laws will be in one consolidated code,” Mr. Pegus told the media on Monday. “What we try to do is to have as much consultation with stakeholders as possible. During this week I will meet not only with Government officials, but also with employers, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civil Service, Nurses and Teachers unions, the Bar Associations and Magistrates,” he stated.
Mr. Pegus said he would be returning to the island on at least two other occasions to continue his extensive consultations with stakeholders – to find out their concerns and what issues they would like to see addressed in the labour code. “We will then have to balance the views of the different stakeholders because in the labour legislation it is sometimes difficult to get consensus on all the issues,” he explained. “What is critical is that you examine the proposals, concerns and issues raised by every person, and where it is not feasible to agree to orimplement their proposals, you give reasons. In that way, whatever labour code emerges would be a little more acceptable to stakeholders. They would not get everything they asked for, but would have been given reasons as to why some of their proposals were not accepted.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs in Anguilla is hoping that a revised Bill for the enactment of a new Labour Code will be ready for submission to the House of Assembly by July this year.
