Unions a no-show at unemployment panel

Project organiser Elizabeth Sealy, speaking with Sunday Newsday after the “Dialogue on Unemployment and Career Fair” at the Woodbrook Youth Facility, Port of Spain, said the morning session was geared towards having a dialogue between the employers and the union.

She said invitations were sent to umbrella unions Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (FITUN), Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) and the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC). She said only NATUC said they may not have been able to make it but they did not receive any response from FITUN or JTUM.

Sealy said they were hoping the unions would have attended as Employers Consultative Association (ECA) Chairman Keston Nancoo was in attendance.

“The dialogue on unemployment had to do with sharing information between the parties on the economic situation and addressing employment challenges.

The ECA was there on behalf of employers and they shared their thoughts. It would have been a balanced view if the unions were there and gave thoughts or gave ideas in terms of solutions.” She said about 30 people attended the career fair and they had hoped more would have turned out. She said schools were closed so it would have been difficult for students to have been organised to attend. The organisers were, nonetheless, heartened by the quality of the presentations.