In keeping with its push for the decentralisation and modernisation of its services, the Ministry of Labour, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, launched its first public mobile application on Google Play and App Stores.
The app, titled “Labour Advice”, will allow for the computerised management of complaints and inquiries being submitted to the ministry’s Labour Department.
Chief Labour Officer, Mr. Dhaneshwar Deonarine, noted that the app serves as both a quick and easy mechanism to access the ministry’s advisory services and lodge disputes and complaints.
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒓-𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚,” he expressed.
He further reinforced that the app would not replace the ministry’s current walk-in services, but instead bolster the ministry’s capacity to ensure that Guyanese across the length and breadth of the country can access these services.
Meanwhile, the Honourable Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, who delivered feature remarks, stated that it is especially important to view the launch against the backdrop of the development that has been taking place in the labour sector since the re-establishment of the Labour Ministry in 2020.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 2015 𝒕𝒐 2020, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆-𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒐𝒇, 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 29𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒓-𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓,” he highlighted.
He further pointed out that when the ministry was re-established, it deliberately set out to ensure that offices were established in every region—except for Region Eight—for the convenience of workers countrywide.
This approach was to ensure that persons have direct access to officers of the Ministry of Labour.
“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚,” Minister Hamilton underscored.
He emphasised that the work of the Ministry is clear in several areas.
This includes the thousands of individuals graduating annually from the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), persons gaining employment through the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA), the revitalisation of the Co-operatives sector through the Department of Co-operatives and Friendly Societies (CO-OP), the promotion of safety and health in workplaces through the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department, and the advocacy of the protection of workers’ rights through the Labour Department.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇, 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑳𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 $160 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆𝒔.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒚. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 [𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅] 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒚,” Minister Hamilton stressed.
Finally, he took the opportunity to urge those with industrial relations matters to contact the Labour Ministry to have their disputes or queries sufficiently addressed, rather than airing grievances publicly.
“𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑳𝒐𝒕 82 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆,” he said.
The launch of the “Labour Advice” mobile application ties into the ministry’s efforts to digitalise, and thereby improve its services through a shift towards more localised and innovative approaches.
This includes the Ministry’s National Job Bank, which was launched through the Ministry’s Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) in March of 2022.
Both of these services were created in collaboration with the National Data Management Authority (NDMA). [Press Release]
