Ministry of Labour is more than settling disputes

– Minister Hamilton –

The Labour Ministry is not just for the settling of disputes but rather it encompasses several other
responsibilities. In an exclusive interview with www.aroundtheregions.com Minister Hamilton
said that too many times the public limits what the labour ministry can do.
“Too many times the public limits what the labour ministry can do. It is not just there when there
is a squabble between an employer and an employee,” he said.
Minister Hamilton pointed out that for several countries the Labour Ministry is used to identify
and secure jobs for its populace, thus acting as the employment agency.
“In some jurisdictions the labour ministry is also the employment agency so labour is more than
what it has presented itself. It has several functions,” he said
Declaring that there will be regular training within the Ministry, Hamilton said that this is very
important in strengthening the labour movement in Guyana.
He disclosed that he has authorized the Chief Co-op Officer to affect several training sessions.
Among them being accounting, financing, and marketing so that these persons can run their co-
operatives more efficiently.
“Whatever tools that we can help the co-operatives with we will.  We have a Board of Industrial
Training (BIT) that we can utilize to do the necessary training,” Minister Hamilton said.
Rehashing what his ministry had already achieved with the Kutu Kuru College and Critchlow
Labour College with regards to collaboration, Minister Hilton reassured that significant training
will be done. “I have said before that we have already had engagement with the Kuru Kuru
college to collaborate with them as it relates to training also the Critchlow labour college,”
Minister Hamilton stressed.
Committing to make resources available the Minister said that his is important if there will be
significant growth and development. He expressed the view that there is an urgent need for the
training of co-operatives.
He added that with the requisites training it will enhance the standards and quality of co-
operatives.
“We will be making available our resources to train at the levels of the co-operatives in how to
run their co-operatives in going forward. At the level of the Ministry itself we will continue
training and retraining of staff upgrading and that will be a continuous exercise,” he assured.