The Department of Labor and Gender Affairs, in partnership with the Trade Union Federation and the Saint Lucia Employers’ Federation, on April 23 officially launched the 2025 Labor Day programamme of activities.

Now in its third year, the week-long observance is centered around the theme, “Revolutionizing Health and Safety: The Role of AI and Digitization at Work.”

This year’s observance, planned by a collaborative committee of representatives from government and the private sector, features a series of engaging and educational events.

Wednesday, April 23 saw the official launch of Labor Week. On Thursday, April 24, a national consultation on ILO Conventions was held. On Friday, April 25, the department hosted a Labor Fair at the Derek Walcott Square. Yesterday, April 28, a health screening drive was held at the Greaham Louisy Administrative Building, and today, April 29, the Minister for the Public Service, Labor and Gender Affairs is expected to address to the nation on the ocassion of the Labour Day observance. On Wednesday, April 30 will be the judging of a logo competition for the new tripartite body, which seeks to unite the visual identity of the Department of Labor, the Trade Union Federation, and the Employers’ Federation; and on Labour day, Thursday, May 1, a grand rally and brunch will be held at the Vigie Sports Complex.

In her remarks at the launch, the Minister for the Public Service, Labour, and Gender Affairs, Hon. Virginia Albert-Poyotte, emphasized the necessity of a partnership between employers and employees in order to build a resilient workforce.

“In the budget, the prime minister has placed $300,000 to review the Labor Act and develop the legislation and regulations that go with the Act. When the Act was designed a few years ago it did not have a set of regulations, so it is open to several interpretations in various sections of the Act. An employer may interpret it one way, workers may interpret in another way, and lawyers may have a different interpretation, but if we have the regulation, it would be clear as to what the common language should be in the Act. That is the purpose of the exercise.”

The Minister noted a growing trend in the arrival of skilled workers from around the world.

"There is a very telling trend that is a bit frightening. It is not about humanoids, but we have real humans coming into the work space from all over the world into the Saint Lucia. It seems that a lot of people that we want to work in Saint Lucia, some of them do not want to work or do not have the skills to do the work, and therefore people are recruited from thousands of miles away to work in Saint Lucia - civil engineers, electrical engineers, hundreds of them are coming into Saint Lucia. The trade unions should pay close attention to that because that is going to compromise the workforce and labor representation.”

On the domestic front, the Minister outlined a series of achievements and ongoing efforts within the Department of Labour, including the appointment of a new Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Sheila Imbert, to boost human resource capacity; ongoing staffing improvements and administrative restructuring; the allocation of $300,000 in the national budget to review the Labour Act and formulate essential regulations for its clearer interpretation; and the provision of a home for the Labour Tribunal.