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OPA News Release: [10/01/2003]
Contact Name: Bob Zachariasiewicz
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

U.S. Labor Department Announces Grants for Labor Law and Trade

Labor Secretary Chao Announces $13.6 million to Build Trade Capacity

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the award of three grants and one contract totaling $13.6 million that will aid in building trade capacity in several countries. These awards will promote core labor standards, strengthen the enforcement of international labor laws and enhance alternative means for dispute resolution. The department awarded the grants in line with the President’s trade agenda.

“This $13.6 million in grants funded by the Department of Labor will play an integral role in supporting the President’s free trade agenda. It will strengthen the capacity of these countries to implement labor laws and help insure that trade liberalization can benefit as many workers as possible. The funds will enable these countries to initiate and strengthen programs that focus on improving workplace conditions, strengthen industrial relations, and help provide better information to employers and workers on workplace rights and responsibilities,” said U.S. Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

Fundación Para La Paz Y La Democracia, which translates to “Foundation For Peace and Democracy,” and is also known as FUNPADEM, will coordinate with Abt Associates to implement a $6.75 million competitively awarded grant in Central America. The objectives of this project are to increase workers’ and employers’ knowledge of their national labor laws and services of their ministries of labor, to strengthen national labor inspection systems and to create and bolster alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the ministries of labor and justice systems.

The FUNPADEM is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-partisan organization that supports sustainable human development in Central America. Abt Associates, Inc., is an employee-owned research and consulting company based in Cambridge, Mass., with a proven track record of developing innovative and practical solutions to protect the safety and health of workers.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) will receive $4.2 million and $1.45 million to work in Southern Africa and Morocco, respectively. In Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland, the grant for Southern Africa will facilitate labor law compliance by promoting awareness of national labor laws. The ILO will implement a training of trainers program in which teams of six to eight individuals in the target countries will be taught to address audiences of workers and employers on labor law and its applications. In Morocco, the ILO will train labor inspectors and test cost-effective methods to transition workers to in-demand jobs.

Development Associates, Inc., (DAI) was awarded a $1.4 million competitively bid contract to further build trade capacity in Chile by assisting the Chilean ministry of labor in revising its organization and operation to heighten public awareness of labor laws. DAI is a private management and governmental consulting firm that provides technical services to federal, state and local government agencies and private organizations in the U.S. and abroad.

These grants are funded and managed by the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs. Information on the Department of Labor can be found at www.dol.gov.

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