Abuja, 23rd July 2019. The Ministers of Labour and Employment from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have adopted the recommendations of Labour experts and the Assembly of Social Dialogue Forum (SDF) regarding the harmonisation of labour laws as well as a decent work programme for the region.

The Ministers, on the heels of the deliberations of the Assembly and Experts also endorsed the reports which among others, clearly set forth the tools for the promotion of decent work and employment and the enhancement of greater collaboration between ECOWAS and Ministers in charge of labour and employment in the region.

In order to build a healthy work environment where the rights and dignity of West African citizens are guaranteed, the Ministers reviewed the prevailing deficits in employment and labour procedures, reporting standards, social protection, labour administration, social dialogue and gender while mapping out priorities in the decent work regional programmes.

They also adopted the special recommendation of the members of the ECOWAS tripartite Social Dialogue Forum with the amendments provided.

Specifically, through the directive on minimum standards towards the harmonization of Labour Laws in the region, the ECOWAS Decent Work Regional Programme (DWRP) and the Memorandum on restructuring of the ECOWAS tripartite social dialogue forum, consensus on topical labour issues were built alongside the sharing of best experiences and practices.
In his closing remarks after the adoption of the instruments, the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Niger and chair of session, Mr. Omar Ben Mohamed expressed satisfaction with the level of participation of the delegates at the meeting.

He told delegates that the positives emanating from the meeting pointed to the fact that the set goals and overall objectives had been met.

Minister Mohammed promised to ensure that the ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum, like other Community Frameworks for dialogue, is provided with a Permanent Secretariat and an adequate budget to enable it to function autonomously as provided in the Supplementary Act establishing the Forum.

The Abuja meeting enabled stakeholders to address topical issues relating to social dialogue and appraise new innovations in regional policies while sharing national experiences in the all-important matter of collective bargaining.