Yama wants investors to consider workers’ welfare

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ALL Foreign investments in the country must have positive impact on the lives of Papua New Guineans directly involved with them, Madang Governor Peter Yama says, pictured.
He said this when opening the PNG Trade Union Congress two-day meeting in Madang last week.
Yama said for so long, foreign investors had come into this country and exploited the national workforce.
He said Papua New Guinea’s human resource was the biggest resource in the country, which drove every single industry.
“Our biggest issue with human resource is the question of how we can effectively protect our human resource,” Yama said.
He said trade union were important because they were the mouthpiece of those who could not speak for themselves.
Yama said the welfare of employees should be paramount.
He said all workers should be properly compensated and insured.
He said companies should provide health care for their workers.
He said their rights and benefits, including retirement and repatriation benefit, should be standard and not biased.
Yama said workplaces should be free from racial discrimination.
He said Madang had several companies against whom complaints had been made.
Yama said these companies should know that he wanted nothing less than the best for his people.
He said Madang was the next industrial centre in the country with big mining and economic projects taking shape.
“We will have more economic opportunities, more investments and more workforce. We will need our investors to also consider guidelines and requirements to hire,” he said.