Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 26, 2016 (SKNIS): The Honourable Vance Amory, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Labour in the Federal Government, said that the safety and health symposium held in commemoration of World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2016, was very important and all should take into consideration the work of the department.
Minister Amory made these remarks at the opening ceremony at the Ocean Terrace Inn on Tuesday, April 26.
“I feel that it is important that we pay recognition to the importance of labour issues, employees and employers issues to make sure that we get the best for our country from the resources of our country – that is our people and what they do to ensure that we have advancement in our country,” said the labour minister. “The importance of people can be likened to the chain which drives the engine of your vehicle or your bicycle.”
Commenting further on the symposium, Premier Amory said that often times employees lodge complaints to the department and so it was imperative to host such an event.
“We get a lot of complaints in the ministry from employees that they are not comfortable or they get sick because of the environment,” he said. “Outside of that, I think that we may not have done enough over the years to get employees and employers to recognize that they are both important to one another and that they may need to ensure that the workplace is conducive to work.”
The minister said that it is important that the Government takes the lead as the legislative authority and also as having the responsibility for development in all areas.
As such, he suggested that this symposium represents such a link in labour related activities.
“At the end of the day, I am expecting that each participant would have a greater understanding of his/her importance in the scheme of things in terms of human resource, the use of human resource, the productivity, as well as the economic benefits to the country and to them individually and to the corporation or the business places,” said the Honourable Vance Amory. “Because when you aggregate all of that you get the end result, but I think each person has to buy into this and has to feel that he/she is important to the whole process.”
Premier Amory stated that an important aspect to recognize is that when two or more persons are assigned to perform any duty there is a very large requirement for adjustment in each individual.