Byron Buckley, News EditorTHE DIRECTOR of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Caribbean office says the lack of preparedness of some labour market stakeholders in the region for the emerging CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is 'very worrying'.
"Too many don't seem to know enough or seem to care enough to learn about the CSME and its implications for them as labour ministries and departments, employers or as workers," Grace Strachan told participants at the National Council on Technical, Vocational & Educational Training's (NCTVET) awards luncheon held this month in Kingston. "This, I find very worrying, as the region will not reap the full benefits of a single market without the total engagement of the main labour market actors."
Some of these actors, Mrs. Strachan said, fear that the free movement of skilled personnel across national borders under the CSME will result in "foreigners coming to take our jobs". But she pointed to statistics proffered by Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados that indicate that so far only some 800 persons have moved to Barbados, and 400 to Trinidad and Tobago under the free movement of labour provision in the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Mr. Arthur is the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) head of government with responsibility for spearheading the single market and economy arrangement.
NECESSITY
The CSME initially allows certain categories of workers to move across borders without work permits. These include university graduates, sports personalities, artistes, musicians, media workers and their dependents. In addition, professionals such as architects and engineers will be recognised and allowed to work by the professional bodies in individual CARICOM states.
In order to overcome the fear of net job loss to countries, the ILO official implores the Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) community in the region to facilitate the mobility and portability of skills across the single market by developing and promoting "harmonised skills, standards and accreditation systems". But, more importantly, she wants TVETs to provide the majority of the workforce who chose to remain in their own countries with the technical competence to become "internally mobile and capable of withstanding regional and global competition."
In Jamaica, the HEART Trust/National Training Agency has the main responsibility for providing TVET programmes.
Noting that the CSME is intended to be a training ground to prepare CARICOM member-states to participate in the new competitive global economy, Mrs. Strachan said the region's competitive advantage lies in our human capital. "And what it really means is that the survival of the region will depend increasingly on the quality and competitiveness of its workforce," said the ILO Caribbean director.
"The goal, therefore," said Mrs. Strachan, "must be to empower Jamaican and Caribbean women and men with competencies to meet these competitive challenges. In this endeavour, the TVET community in CARICOM must play an increasingly important role."
