The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Timor-Leste (CCI-TL) and the Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation (KSTL) signed a joint Declaration for the Protection of Dignity at Work and Inclusive Working Environment on 13 December in Dili, Timor-Leste. Through this Declaration, both organizations to recognize the diversity of individuals in the workplace and to promote equal employment opportunities as well as ensure workplace inclusivity.

The Declaration recognizes that employees who have suffered from any form of discrimination and violation are entitled to raise the matter through the agreed procedures and mechanisms and the employees are not being victimized. In addition, all complaints of discrimination and violation would be handled seriously, promptly and confidentially.

The Declaration is an immediate follow-up to the National Bipartite Dialogue on 18 November on designing grievance handling mechanism at enterprise level. The national dialogue brought both workers’ and employers’ organizations to the agreement in promoting social dialogues in handling grievances that lead to equality, mutual trust, high productivity and inclusivity at the enterprise level.

“Well-being is the main goal of every human being including the workers. To achieve this, workers need a harmonious workplace to work and gain a decent benefit from it. When both parties have good relationship and cooperation, the occurrence of conflict or disputes can be prevented,” said President of KSTL, Almerio Vila-Nova.

Meanwhile, Oscar Lima, President of CCI-TL, highlighted the importance of relationship building and cooperation between the two organizations. “All policies, procedures and mechanisms, including today’s Joint Declaration, aim to promote peaceful and fruitful relations between workers and businesses to achieve objectives of economic growth and diversification. Prevention of workplace disputes provides the best return on investment,” he stated.

Both organizations also appraised the support given by the ILO to bring both parties together to discuss long standing issues on labour relations, including the grievance handling mechanism at enterprise level. Responding to this, the ILO’s Office-in-Charge Head of Mission ILO Timor-Leste, Albert Uriyo, expressed the commitment of ILO to continue working and supporting social dialogues in Timor-Leste to achieve the common goal for a better Timor-Leste.

“The ILO is committed to continuously support the efforts taken by its member States, including Timor-Leste, to build harmonious industrial relations at the enterprise level, while maintaining the welfare of workers,” he concluded.