By Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Tuesday 12th December 2023)- Local domestic workers (members of the St. KItts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union-SKNT&LU) who recently participated in a second training session are in high praise of the experience.
The virtual session was conducted on Saturday 9th December 2023, at the Union’s HeadquartersMasses House-located on Church Street in Basseterre, organized by the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) in partnership with the Caribbean Domestic Workers Network (CDWN). Other participating countries were Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana as well as Trinidad and Tobago.
Following the workshop, the St. Kitts-Nevis participants were asked by this media to share their views: Angela Simon – “For me, it’s a good idea because we have some support; we are not alone and other workers could come and join the Union and get some support and help.” Shirley Walters – “I find that it’s a good idea so that people can know that they can be part of these kind of workshops and it can help them, and if they have a problem, they can join the Unionwhich can help them.” Andy Caines (President of the Dominican [Santo Domingo] Association of St.
Kitts) – “The workshop for me is very important. I know that most of the domestic workers are from my community [the Spanish speaking]…most of the foreigners do domestic work so some of the employers don’t like to give them their rights as workers.
So the training is very good because the workers would understand that they have their rights just like any other workers like those who work in other places including Government Headquarters in any other office and any government employee. It’s very important that here in St.
Kitts and Nevis that we start the work of [educating] about domestic workers about their rights for vacation, holiday pay and all the other rights just like any other worker. So this workshop is good because you have a lot of domestic workers who do not know
