BEC launches 2016 Week of Activities

Tony Walcott, Executive Director of BEC yesterday officially launched Barbados Employers’ Confedera-tion Week of Activities under the theme “Keys to Sustainable Develop-ment: Consultation, Dialogue and the Green Framework”. 

 

While speaking at the press conference at the BEC Office, he indicated, “Sustainable development has been a topic of discussion for quite some time. Put simply, it speaks to the endurance of systems and processes. A wide range of stakeholders have played significant roles in numerous workshops and in the development of various policies around this very topic. In the current economic and industrial relations climate, these two keys: consultation and dialogue, will play an integral role in the country’s sustainability. To this end, we saw it fit to develop a theme that fosters this nature of discussion”. 

 

The Executive Director added, “Now, if I may reiterate my sentiments shared at the close of 2015, Innovation has to be a key pillar in our strategies as the environment around us evolves rapidly. As such, the Confederation has placed and continues to place significant effort into the launch and further development of a green initiative.

 

 “As issues such as climate change and environmental degradation become more and more of a global concern there is increasing dialogue around greening initiatives and what it means for businesses, labour and the economy on a whole. Impeccable research has been conducted and is still on-going on what ‘Going Green’ can do for an economy, enterprises and jobs.” 

 

He also revealed, “At a recent workshop the team and I attended with the ITC-ILO entitled ‘Greening Economies, Enterprises and Jobs: The Role of Employers’ Organisations in the promotion of environmentally sustainable economies and enterprises, the message was clear. As stakeholders we need to increase our efforts to generate the kind of robust discussion needed to assess the benefits that such an initiative can have on our country and its allies. As such the Barbados Employers’ Confederation has decided to embrace the topic into its Week of Activities by way of a two-tiered approach to get its membership and the wider society involved in such discussions. We are therefore pleased to launch ‘The Green Framework: Innovation; Initiatives and Sustainability.’” 

 

One segment of The Green Framework is an Open Forum presented in association with the Central Bank of Barbados and sponsored by the Barbados Light & Power Co. Ltd. There will be a dynamic panel that will take place at The Radisson Aquatica Resort on May 12. The other tier of The Green Framework includes a webinar entitled “The Green Framework: A Regional Discussion”. He urged those interested in the events to visit the BEC website.

 

Anderson King, Vice President, Corporate Communications & Marketing at Sagicor during the Press Conference for the launch of the 2016 Barbados Employers Confederation 56th Annual General Meeting highlighted, 

 

“We are indeed thankful for the opportunity to be involved. At Sagicor, we have achieved success throughout our 175-year history by adhering to the tenets which also guide the activities of the Barbados Employers Confederation. 

 

“As leaders in the private sector, we embrace our role as part of the mission to develop and strengthen relationships with government, representative bodies and by extension our human resources. Successive leaders in Sagicor have stewarded the emergence of this company’s Global potential and like this country, through the efforts of social partners like the BEC, our company’s reputation too has become associated with resilience and sustainability. Society has long realised that we can only achieve progress through the exchange of, and respect for ideas, this is why we are honoured to participate during this week of activities around the 56th Annual General Meeting,” he noted.

 

Today the Chairman of Sagicor Financial Corporation, Stephen McNamara, will be presenting on the topic “Consultation and Co-operation towards National Economic and Social Development” at the AGM Luncheon at The Hilton Barbados Resort. (NB)