May 16, 2003 – The Turks and Caicos Islands was approved as the 18th member of the Caribbean Employers Confederation at the group's annual meeting, held May 7-8 on St. Thomas.
According to a release, the delegates at the group's 43rd annual meeting, held at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort, discussed, among other matters, "the Free Trade Area of the Americas' potential impact on employers in the region." Concern was expressed about regional heads of government not involving employers in their discussions, "notwithstanding the fact that it will be the employees who will be investing and creating jobs in the region."
The confederation is made up of employers' organizations from Caribbean states and territories. Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were represented at the meeting.
The V.I. Human Resources Management Association, which hosted the meeting, also co-presented a conference on May 9 with the law firm Ogletree Deakins on "Facing the Challenges of the V.I. and Caribbean Workplace." Among the topics covered by speakers and in panel discussions were the region's wrongful discharge laws, arbitration issues and the impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
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