Officials from the Ministry and Department of Labour held a three-hour consultation on the draft Labour Code on Wednesday, May 25, with employees at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa.
The consultation was led by Minister of Home Affairs with responsibility for Labour, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, along with the Ministerial Assistant, Mrs. Evalie Bradley, and the Labour Commissioner, Mrs. Aunika Webster-Lake. They were introduced to the employees by the resort’s Director of Human Resources, Ms. Carleen Gumbs.
Minister Cora Richardson-Hodge explained the purpose of the consultation. “As you are aware, the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Labour have been engaged in a series of labour consultation meetings,” she stated. “We have hosted a couple of town hall meetings, but we thought it was appropriate that we should actually go to where many of the employees are. This includes the hotels and some of the other businesses like ANGLEC etc.
“This is therefore a continuation of those meetings. We have been going through the draft Labour Code which has been around for some time; and we want to finalise it as many people in Anguilla have been complaining about a lack of an updated Labour Code. This is now our opportunity to bring it to employees so that they can understand what their obligations are. Some of the provisions remain the same; some have been enhanced; and some have been changed somewhat. These series of sessions are therefore to point out those sections to you.”
During the consultation there were a number of questions and answers on the draft Labour Code which, it is hoped, will be taken to the Anguilla House of Assembly before or by year end.