Labour Ministers in Mexico looking to boost America 'decent work'

México.- Ministers Working America will meet this Thursday and Friday in Cancun, in southeastern Mexico, to define priorities in labor issues in the hemisphere and promoting the "decent work", reported the Organization of American States (OAS).

The XIX Inter-American Conference of Labor Ministers of the Americas (ITTA) will bring "to the highest authorities and industry representatives to discuss and make decisions regarding the priorities and actions to be taken at the hemispheric level," he explained in a statement.

Under the theme "Building decent work with social inclusion and sustainable development in the Americas", participants discussed topics such as education and work, employment equity and inclusion, labor migration and hemispheric cooperation for strengthening labor ministries.

The conference is expected to conclude with the adoption of the Declaration and Plan of Action of Cancun, containing new hemispheric consensus on priorities and actions to take on labor and employment in the region, the OAS said.

The opening session will be attended by the Minister of Labour of Colombia and President of the XVIII IACML, Luis Eduardo Garzon, and the Regional Director for the Americas of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

Also the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico, Alfonso Navarrete, and the Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Neil Parsan. In parallel, they will also meet employers' organizations in the framework of the Business Technical Advisory Committee on Labor Matters (CEATAL) and the Trade Union Technical Advisory Council (COSATE), both advisory bodies of the CIMT.

According to the Secretariat of the Mexican Labor, have confirmed their attendance of the ministers of Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The purpose of the meeting, he said, is the consolidation and development of public policies that "facilitate the construction of a decent job with equity, social inclusion and sustainable development."

Since 1963, labor ministers of member countries meet every two years to review the situation in the hemisphere and policy of regional cooperation in labor and social policy. During the XVIII IACML held in Medellin, Colombia, in November 2013, the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, was unanimously elected President Pro Tempore of CIMT XIX.