Benefits outweighed by long-term harm, says Potter
By Kisean Joseph kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com People’s Union President Ralph Potter cautioned that any perceived benefits of early work integration and apprenticeship programs for minors are likely outweighed by long-term harm, when asked to comment on the practice. Asked directly whether there are benefits to early immersion and apprenticeship for young people, Potter said the question must […]
Black News 
By Kisean Joseph
kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com
People’s Union President Ralph Potter cautioned that any perceived benefits of early work integration and apprenticeship programs for minors are likely outweighed by long-term harm, when asked to comment on the practice.
Asked directly whether there are benefits to early immersion and apprenticeship for young people, Potter said the question must first be considered through the lens of international labour standards.
“To answer that question, we need to look at what the ILO [International Labour Organization] said about child labour,” Potter said. “It is labour that denies anyone under age 18 from developing their full potential and is otherwise harmful to them.”
Potter said he believed recent remarks from Deputy Labour Commissioner Pascal Kentish, confirming that Antigua and Barbuda remains in technical breach of two ILO conventions barring persons under 18 from working, would have been made within that same context.
Kentish made the original disclosure during an Observer Radio interview on Friday, marking World Day Against Child Labour. He said Division E of the Labour Code currently defines a child as anyone under 14, and a young person as anyone between 14 and 17.
He pointed to the Education Act, which mandates that children under 16 remain in school, adding that wherever a child is employed, they should not be engaged in certain types of work.
Potter acknowledged a long local tradition of sending young men to “learn trade,” but said that practice predates the ILO conventions now in force.
“The general feeling, based on research and manifested behaviours, is that persons under 18 are generally not physically and mentally prepared to handle certain work environments,” Potter said, adding that this could cause more long-term harm than the short-term benefits associated with early income.
Kentish said local law permits young persons in that age bracket to work under strict medical supervision, but the arrangement puts the country at odds with the ILO Conventions 138 and 182, both of which have been ratified.
“It will be frowned upon because we are in violation of the convention, and we have ratified these two conventions,” Kentish said. “And it therefore means that we are bound by them.”
He also warned of lasting damage to young people pushed into employment too early.
“It is a scourge on society,” Kentish said. “When you have children who cannot enjoy their youthful years, and they have to be working, when they reach adulthood, they look like 60-year-olds and so on. You want children to enjoy their youthfulness and be able to become productive citizens of society.”
Proposals have been put forward to amend the Labour Code and raise the legal definition of a child to 18 years, in line with international convention, Kentish said.
The disclosure is likely to prompt fresh scrutiny of a longstanding local practice in which students take up part-time or seasonal employment during school holidays. While culturally accepted for generations, Kentish confirmed it remains a point of contention with international bodies.
He urged employers currently engaging young workers to come forward and regularise those arrangements with the Labour Department.
The Labour Department marked the occasion with a free health and wellness street fair outside its offices on Thames Street between Long and Church streets, running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair featured health screenings, information on Social Security benefits. Representatives from the Immigration Department were also on hand.
