Shirley Pryce achieves success

SHIRLEY Pryce, president of the Jamaica Household Workers’ Union (JHWU), has received her master’s in labour law from Penn State University.

She is being congratulated by the 51% Coalition and wider women’s sector groups.

Pryce, a former domestic worker, received the Order of Distinction, officer rank, in 2014 for her work as an advocate for Jamaican and Caribbean domestic workers.

She is a founding member of the JHWU (formerly the Jamaica Household Workers’ Association), where she worked to get the group classified as a union through the International Labour Organisation.

She also worked with the ILO to assist in the development of Convention 189 on domestic workers’ rights.

The JHWU is a member of the 51% Coalition.

“Congratulations on your latest achievement, the completion and attainment of your master’s in labour law,” wrote Joan Grant Cummings, researcher/consultant at Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) on behalf of the 51% Coalition.

“We know that you are very deserving of this and we continue to be inspired and motivated by your commitment and the work we know you put into all you do, with the resulting positive outcomes.

“We look forward to our continued partnership with you and JHWU as we all work assiduously and tirelessly towards the full protection and safeguarding of domestic workers’ (household workers’) rights.

She added: “In particular, we re-affirm our support of Convention 189 on domestic workers’ rights, bearing in mind the leadership role you played in its development and adoption by ILO tripartite partners (governments, private sector and trade unions) globally. Further, we look forward to participating in the stepped-up campaign by the JHWU to secure the promised ratification of by the Government of Jamaica.”