Liberia Hosts ILO Stakeholders Conference -Harmonizing Labor Laws, Standards High for Discussion

MONROVIA: The Liberian Government, through the Ministry of Labour, has commenced engagement with the International Labor Organization’s visiting delegation and stakeholders to discuss harmonization of laws governing Private and Public Sector Workers’ Unions in the country.

The exercise which is expected to last for an extended period of time, when successfully completed, will provide equal basic opportunities for Liberian workers in the two separate categories, and also harmonize portions of The Decent Work Act that are deemed by relevant stakeholders to have discrepancies.

A Labor Ministry press release said while addressing the official opening session of the ‘Tripartite Engagement Conference’ on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at the EJS Ministerial Complex in Monrovia, Labor Minister Cooper W. Kruah, Sr. welcomed the high-powered ILO delegation to the gathering and assured them of Government’s unflinching support to the ongoing engagements.

Minister Kruah described the exercise as key to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Government’s ‘ARREST AGENDA’, which prioritizes the rights to free trade union alignment by all workers across the country.

Minister Kruah took note of some concerns raised by Liberia’s international partners, including the ILO on trade union status of public and private sector workers, and clarified that public sector workers in the country are organized under their own association named and styled “the Civil Servants Association of Liberia”, with no interference by Government, while private sector workers do the same at their respective workplaces.

The Labor Minister also noted that freedom of association is an organic right guaranteed to all citizens and foreigners alike by the he Liberian Constitution and protected by the current Government.

He pledged his ministry’s commitment to continue constructive engagement with the ILO and other stakeholders in working on portions of trade union laws and statues deemed inimical to international protocols; a process which requires collaboration of all concerned parties.

Speaking earlier, ILO Director and member of the delegation, Madam Vanessa Phala, lauded the Labor Minister Kruah for his swift move in elevating strategic ILO instruments, including the Act on Trafficking in Persons, as well as current level of discussions on the possibility of collective unionization under a single umbrella organization for workers in public and private sectors.

These views were also echoed by other top ILO officials on the delegation, including Mr. Inriolata Chinyangarara from ILO office in Abuja, Nigeria and Madam Julie Kazagon of Dakar, Senegal.

According to the Ministry’s press release issued, the Tripartite Engagement involving ILO, the Liberian Government and Stakeholders is being attended by several executives of trade unions, including the Liberia Labor Congress’ Vice President Winston Zeh, Secretary General Marcus Blamah, as well as officials from the Ministry of Justice and House Committee Chairman on Labor, Hon. Sumo K. Mulbah, among others.

The engagement is expected to continue up to the next conference of the International Labor Organization, at which time the multilateral stakeholders would have resolved some outstanding issues regarding trade union functions and harmonize conflicting legal framework surrounding freedom of unionization by workers from both private and public sectors.