HARBOR VIEW:---- From October 29th - 30th 2015, the Social Economic Council (SER) Sint Maarten took part in an International Joint Conference entitled: “Promoting Workplace Compliance, including in Global Supply Chains: the role of Social Economic Councils and similar social dialogue institutions”.
The conference was a collaboration between the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Social Economic Council of the Netherlands. During the two days over 120 participants from 39 countries came together in the Hague. Working sessions were organized and best practices were exchanged.
In addition to contributions from various participating countries, international organizations such as the United Nation Global Compact, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Bank provided the participants with pertinent information. Multinationals and NGOs, such as Inditex, Akzo Nobel and Fair Food International, gave specific examples of compliance with labor standards in global supply chains. The participants were therefore better enable to ask relevant questions during various presentations, discussions and question rounds.
The input from the participants also formed concrete input for the ILO, AICESIS and the participating countries. At the conclusion of the conference, the participating countries signed a joint declaration on compliance with labor standards. SER Sint Maarten was represented at the conference by Chairwoman, Oldine Bryson-Pantophlet and staff member, Ursela Salomon.