ACTIVITIES FOR WORKERS’ WEEK

SEVERAL ACTIVITIES will be undertaken to mark Workers’ Week 2017, to pay tribute to Jamaican workers and the important role they play in socioeconomic development.

The week is being observed from May 15-23 under the theme ‘Restore, Preserve, Beautify’, and the activities will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

A panel discussion on the recently tabled Occupational, Safety and Health (OSH) Bill was held yesterday at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston under the theme ‘Preserving Workers’ Legacy Through Health, Safety and Well-Being’.

Tomorrow, there will be a National Thanksgiving Service for Workers’ Week and Labour Day (May 23) at the Portmore New Testament Church of God in St Catherine, commencing at 9 a.m.

The Ministry of Labour, in collaboration with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, will host a rededication and remembrance ceremony at the Workers’ Monument in downtown Kingston on Monday.

Beautification of the monument will be done and the inscription plaque replaced. The monument was erected in dedication to Jamaican workers who participated in the 1939 labour riots at the Kingston Wharves.

Workers’ Week is a time for reflection on the labour uprisings of the 1930s and the sacrifices made by workers locally and regionally to gain freedom and rights, notably the freedom to have representation at work.