Wednesday, April 16 2008

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MINISTER SPEAKS: Labour Minister Rennie Dumas launched the National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS at the Ballroom, Hilton Trinidad on Monday. ...

Representatives of trade unions and People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) have appealed for the Government to implement legislation protecting PLWHAs from stigma and discrimination in the workplace and job loss due to their HIV status.

Speaking at the launch of the National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS at the Ballroom of Trinidad Hilton on Monday, a trade union official said there were corporate citizens “who are accessing workplace programmes on HIV/AIDS but who continue to screen employees through the recruitment and interview process in a very subtle manner.”

He called for the national policy which includes workplace policy as part, to become a national law.

The official, representing the National Trade Union Centre, called for the Government to instruct “state sector employers not to resist the inclusion of HIV/AIDS clause in collective agreements.”

NATUC has received a complaint from the Transport and Industrial Workers Union that “a leading state sector organisation has been refusing to agree to such a proposal.”

As the Government, employers and labour commit to a national workplace policy he said “we would expect that State organisations will lead the way in response to stigma and discrimination.”

Catherine Williams of Community Action Resource said workers who were HIV positive lived in constant fear of losing their jobs. She said her organisation wanted to see legislation to support the workplace policy.

Williams appealed to Dumas to “speak on our behalf to the Ministers of Legal Affairs and Attorney General’s Department and show them how quickly your Ministry got the workplace policy done. Explain to them we need to get legislation sent to Cabinet before 2008”.

Williams said People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) including the middle income and professional working class were “invisible and have to travel to first world countries two to four times a year for treatment and care.”

Williams said four to five persons tested positive for HIV daily and they were in the 14 to 49 age group–the working population in TT. “Mr Minister many HIV positive persons are unemployed, have no housing or food because of loss of income. Many people fear to access treatment because of stigma and discrimination.”

Williams said the process must be speeded up to create a more supportive environment for people with HIV.

In his feature address, Labour Minister Rennie Dumas said the National Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS sets minimum standards for employers to manage the impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The Policy “outlines the rights and responsibilities of each tripartite partner to reduce the spread, impact and stigma of HIV/AIDS in the working environment.”

It addresses the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS, and strongly emphasises the protection of workers’ personal data and reasonable accommodation in the workplace.

Dumas said the Policy did not “stand alone” but was supported by the Constitution, the OSHA Act, ILO Convention No 11 and the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS.

He said the “real challenge” was implementation of the Policy and the projects to follow but the Ministry would partner with the tripartite community as well as international counterparts and civil society to ensure implementation strategies are harmonised.

Dumas said the Project Advisory Board (PAB) which developed the Policy and worked so well with creating the Policy was charged with developing and implementing policy. Responding to concerns raised, Dumas said he was sure it would include legislation and support for the policy.

On August 6 2006, the Government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Labour Organisation/US Department of Labour for implementation of an HIV and AIDS Workplace Education Programme-An Accelerated Response. A PAB with representatives of Ministries, non-governmental organisations, UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS and PLWHAs to guide policy and technical matters related to execution of the project. The Workplace Policy was a “key output” of the project.