Claxton Bay producer Trinidad Cement Ltd has copped the Employers' Consultative Association (ECA) Champion Employer of the Year 2009 award.

TCL general manager Satnarine Bachew received the award at ECA's eighth Annual Chairman's Dinner and 50th Anniversary Celebrations on Thursday night at the Hilton Trinidad.

In a video presentation submitted, Bachew said the company firstly "ensures that people are adequately compensated so their quality of life can be best possible".

He added: "World class is our vision and in order to do that the single most important element is investing in our human resource. Which is what we focused on. Which is what makes us a world class champion employer."

Bachew said TCL had one of the best medical plans and best pension plans in the country, and it created a learning environment with strong mentoring and coaching.

He said the company could boast about having three generations of employees working at TCL "because people working at TCL encourage their children to also work at TCL".

President George Maxwell Richards, in his keynote address, noted that the "people factor" was at the core of good governance.

"Too often the people development and welfare component in an organisation is given a low priority, especially in the quest for profit in the case of business enterprises."

He said staff members at all levels must be regarded as stakeholders and encouraged to view themselves in this way, and fairness must be a hallmark of good governance.

Speaking on the theme "Governance" he said governance issues were not confined to politics.

"Without good governance in any entity ... we are doomed to fail. This applies to government, to homes, to schools, to religious organisations, to the private sector and to every other entity where there is human interaction."

ECA chairman Ruben McSween, in his opening remarks, said the association had reviewed the new government's 120-day plan and was satisfied with the congruence from its own meetings and was "at the forefront of readiness to implement".

He promised members the ECA would continue to defend the employer's position and had been holding discussions with Government ministers on a number of issues, including the planned increase in the minimum wage.