Union to host seminar for women

CONVINCED that women play an integral part in all aspects of life, the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) has organised a two-day seminar, mainly for women, on August 18 and 19. Based on the theme, “Strong Unions Need Women — Issues Facing Women in the Workplace,” the seminar will be opened by Minister of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprise Development, Anthony Roberts. The seminar, the first of its kind by the SWWTU, is being run in conjunction with the International Workers’ Federation in London, of which the SWWTU is an affiliate.

It is intended to help empower women in the trade union movement to deal with situations as they arise from time to time, and also motivate  fellow workers to become more involved in their unions. Subjects down for discussion during the seminar include HIV/AIDS, women and the law, sexual harassment, industrial relations as they relate to women and the importance of women joining the trade union movement. Some 42 women drawn from a cross-section of the trade union movement in Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago have been invited to take part in the seminar. The president general of NUGFW, Michael Annisette, said he expects a full turnout out of women at the seminar.