Min. Kruah Expresses Commitment to Fight Against Discrimination at Workplaces

By: William K. Howard

Congo town: Labor Minister Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr. has expressed the Ministry willingness in working with the Solidarity Center of the United States in the fight against discrimination and gender based violence against women in the workplace.

Minister Kruah said that the Ministry of Labor is prepared at any time to take tours alongside with the Solidarity Center where there are suspected violations against women workers in Liberia to help serve as deterrence on these activities at workplaces. 

According to a Labor Ministry Press release, Minister Kruah made these assertions when a delegation of the Solidarity Center and United States Department of Labor paid him a courtesy call at the Ministry of Labor in Monrovia.

Speaking further, Minister Kruah highlighted the urgent need for training of Labor Commissioners, Hearing Officers and Inspectors of the Ministry of Labor as a means of broadening their understanding of the law in addressing these issues effectively.

The MOL boss also expressed his administration’s preparedness to work with the Center in the ratification and domestication of International Labor Conventions intended to promote decent work in Liberia.

Earlier, Madam Deddeh Tulay, Country Program Director of Solidarity Center informed Labor Minister Kruah that her organization has been working with Unions and workers in Liberia in the fight against discrimination in the workplace and promoting decent work over a decade.

She said that her organization has been providing support to the unions in Liberia in areas of basic trade union training, organizing training, and leadership training as well as conducting research for Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) for them.

She said that Solidarity has also helped in the building of independent trade unions and encouraging women participation in workers activities in the workplace.

The Solidarity Center Country Director informed Minister Kruah about the project which is being sponsored by the United States Department of Labor that is currently operating in Liberia and Nigeria.

She said that in Liberia, they are focused in five counties namely: Bong, Montserrado, Nimba, Cape Mount, and Grand Bassa with the unions in extractive, mining and agriculture sectors.

She named the Firestone Agriculture Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), United Workers Union of Liberia (UWUL), General Agriculture and Allied Workers Union of Liberia (GAAWUL), as unions the project is working to raise awareness on gender based violent in the workplace and ILO Convention 190.