Opposition members walked out of Parliament on Monday after accusing the St. Lucia government of seeking to rush through the controversial Labor Code into law.

Richard Frederick, the newest member on the opposition benches, said that the legislators had only been given a copy of the amended laws late on Sunday night.

The Labor Code was first presented to the Parliament last week and debate on the 255-page document continued Monday.

Frederick told the Parliament that considering the importance of the Labor Code, it should have been perused by the relevant stakeholders before being brought to the House.

"When we were presented with the document last night we were told that it replaces the document that was tabled last week, and there was absolutely no indication to what was added, or what was removed," he noted.

"If we are representing the interest of all stakeholders, we need to be knowledgeable about the contents of such an important document and we should not be part of the passage of laws that affects one party or another, without having full knowledge of what we are doing," Frederick said.

"Members must not forget that the business of the Labor Code was borne out of an agreement between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the St. Lucia government. The Labor Code is supposed to be based on a tri-partite consensus among the unions, employers and government and at this point the Chamber of Commerce has a list of concerns which are yet to be addressed," Frederick said.

The opposition parliamentarian read the contents of a letter he said had been sent to the Attorney General's Office by the St. Lucia Employers Federation, urging that the concerns outlined be addressed before the legislation was passed.

But Labor Minister Velon John accused the opposition of adopting an anti-worker stance, saying that the Labor Code was designed to ensure that employers did not treat workers unfairly.

"Had the code been in place at this time, the laying off of just over 100 workers at a Sandals Hotel would have been far more difficult, and we need the legislation in place to protect the rights of workers which continue to be challenged by employers operating in the state," he said.

He said that government had worked tirelessly over the past couple weeks in an effort to reach some level of accord among the stakeholders, and was satisfied that they had produced legislation that adequately represented the interest of all parties.

Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, who first announced plans for the introduction of a revised Labor Code as far back as 1997 when the St. Lucia Labor Party (SLP) first came into power, had indicated his intention to bring the new code into law before general elections, due by December.

The St. Lucia Private Sector Council in a statement noted that according to a government timetable the private sector, trade unions and government were only able to meet for a few days in the month to discuss the code and reach a consensus on its provisions.

"We are convinced that the level of haste imposed on the final consultation process will produce errors and oversights that will have a negative impact on the local labor market," it said.

The private sector group said that it considered the short-term preparatory process for the government-sponsored retreat in November unrealistic, adding there appears to be no harmonization of the Labor Code with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME) that St. Lucia signed in June this year.

The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, skills, services and labor across CARICOM.