The meeting serves as a stage to debate the challenges of the working world
Santo Domingo.– More than 180 union leaders from 24 countries are participating this week in Santo Domingo in the Regional Executive Committee Meeting of UNI Americas, one of the main coordination spaces for the continent’s trade union movement in the service sector.
The meeting was inaugurated with the participation of the Minister of Labor, Eddy Olivares, together with national and international union representatives, who reaffirmed the Dominican Republic’s commitment to the promotion of social dialogue, decent work, and the defense of labor rights.
As part of the opening, the Ministry of Labor and UNI Americas signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening social dialogue, promoting public policies oriented toward decent work, and advancing the protection of labor rights in the country’s service sector.
Minister Eddy Olivares highlighted that the agreement is based on the premise that economic growth only makes true sense when it translates into decent jobs, fair labor relations, safe work environments, and equal opportunities for all people.
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“The agreement we are signing today establishes a broad and modern cooperation agenda that will allow us to develop joint initiatives to promote compliance with labor rights, strengthen social dialogue, boost occupational health and safety, foster equal opportunities, expand training for workers, employers, and trade union organizations, and advance in the eradication of child labor, forced labor, and any form of labor exploitation,” he expressed.
For his part, the president of UNI Américas, Héctor Daer, stated that the memorandum represents an important step to strengthen labor relations in the region.
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“Collective bargaining remains the most powerful tool for building fairer societies, reducing inequalities, and ensuring that economic growth translates into better living conditions for workers. To achieve this, we need strong, representative unions with the capacity for dialogue,” he stated.
Daer added that the signing of the agreement constitutes an example of best practices that could serve as a reference for other countries on the continent.
Debating the challenges of the world of work
UNI Américas regional secretary, Marcio Monzane, pointed out that the meeting constitutes an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between trade union organizations and governments in the face of the challenges facing the labor market, including digital transformation, artificial intelligence, the defense of democracy, and the expansion of workers’ rights.
Over two days of work, union representatives will analyze the political and economic context of the Americas, strategies to address new employment challenges, successful experiences in union organization and collective bargaining, the impact of multinational companies, a just transition, and the strengthening of regional cooperation.
The celebration of this international meeting positions the Dominican Republic as a regional benchmark for social dialogue and evidences the joint commitment between public institutions and the trade union movement to advance towards more inclusive societies, with decent jobs and better working conditions for all.
