Oscar Lima, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Timor-Leste (CCI-TL) and Almerio Vila-Nova, President of the Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation (KSTL) shook hands after signing the Framework Agreement for Establishment of National Bipartite Forum for Social Dialogue, marking the beginning of stronger and sounder bipartite collaboration between Timor-Leste’s employers’ and workers’ organizations.

Held in Dili on 18 August, the signing ceremony of these two parties were witnessed by HE. Alarico de Rosario, Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment (SEFOPE), Ricardo Measino, Head of UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Timor-Leste and Michiko Miyamoto, ILO Country Director for Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

The first of its kind, the Agreement aims to promote trust, collaboration and strengthen the relations between CCI-TL and KSTL members both at the enterprise and national levels through regular social dialogues. It also acts as the basis for the establishment of the National Bipartite Social Dialogue Forum and promotes the implementation of capacity building activities and policies for strengthening dialogue mechansims at enteprise level.

Both Presidents of CCI-TL and KSTL agreed that the connection between employers and workers were crucially needed in supporting the employment promotion and development of Timor-Leste. “There should be no contradiction between us. We need to be connected and dependable to each other for the better future of Timor-Leste,” said Oscar as the President of CCI-TL. A similar note was also given by Almerio as the President of KSTL,”The promotion of rights of work and respect for the aspiration of workers can be achieved through bipartite cooperation.”

Prior to the signing ceremony, a National Bipartite Dialogue was conducted on 17 August to examine and finalize the Framework Agreement. Attended by 40 representatives of CCI-TL and KSTL with observers from officials of Department of the Secretariat State for Vocational and Employment (SEFOPE), the Dialogue was facilitated by Arun Kumar, ILO’s Specialist on Collective Bargaining and Social Dialogue.

During the Bipartite Dialogue, Arun presented key elements of social dialogue as a tool for a country’s recovery and growth. He also emphasized that while social dialogue is not a cure-all for all problems, still enterprises with culture of social dialogue and collective bargaining tend to address business and social challenges better.

He cited examples of social dialogue and workplace cooperation arrangements in a number of countries, including Singapore, Japan and countries in continental Europe which have built collaborative bipartite and tripartite labour relations based on trust and mutual respect.

“Poor management of work relationships increase costs, reduce productivity and lower rate of return on investment. Therefore, policies that promote workplace consultations and cooperation between between managers, workers and their representatives are necessary for business success,” he explained, highlighting the need for Timor-Leste’s employers’ and workers organizations to promote constructive labour-management social dialogue and cooperation.

The Bipartite Dialogue concluded with the agreement to sign the Framework Agreement for Establishing the National Bipartite Forum. The signing ceremony would be followed by follow-up meetings to further discuss the establishment mechanisms of the National Bipartite Forum at national and municipality levels as well as capacity building for collaborative labour relations for productivity and decent work.