ILO STUDY HAILS BARBADOS SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP

The Barbados experience of utilizing social partnership agreements as a tripartite consultative and negotiating mechanism for policy making and economic development has been hailed as a model of best practice by the International Labour Organization.

In a recently-published ILO country study entitled "Barbados - Fostering economic development through social partnership", Tayo Fashoyin, ILO Senior Social Dialogue Specialist, ILO, Geneva, examines the development and implementation of social partnership agreements in Barbados and their impact on the economic and industrial relations environment particularly during the economic crisis of the early 1990s.

The study is the first of a number of Country Reports to be produced by the ILO's In-Focus Programme on Strengthening Social Dialogue, aimed at analysing the different approaches to social dialogue and identifying best practices.

The paper traces the origins of social partnership agreements from the early 1990s when Barbados was faced with a difficult economic crisis. It describes the economic and labour conditions which were prevalent and which later set the stage for the coming together of the social partners - the trade unions, employers' organizations and Government to tackle their national economic and social problems. Their collaborative efforts were eventually sealed with the implementation of the First Protocol on Economic Stabilization and Collective Bargaining in which the tripartite partners agreed to an overall strategy for sustained economic development. The remarkable achievements gained as a result of this Protocol influenced the negotiations of two other Protocols.

Fashoyin also analyses both the qualitative and quantitative results of the social partnership agreements - the Protocols, and concludes that the agreements not only contributed to the reversal of the economic decline but to a path of sustained growth for eight consecutive years.

Five case studies of social dialogue at lower levels - sectoral, industry and enterprise are presented to determine the extent to which the national agreements have influenced consultation at these levels as well as addressed the substantive issues. Of noted success as a result of the protocols, have been the emergence and work of the Barbados National Productivity Council (BNPC) which has established a commendable record of achievements, particularly in strengthening and consolidating the social partnership. The BNPC has also made a notable contribution to the wide acceptance of productivity as a useful element of enterprise management. The Council has achieved such remarkable success that it is now providing technical assistance and services to other countries and agencies in the Caribbean.

Despite the immense success of the agreements at the national level, the author is of the view that the effective transmission of the agreements to lower level bodies and institutions should be encouraged. He suggests a crucial need for education and sensitization to the provisions of the protocols and their impact.

The ILO study, a draft of which was the subject of a national tripartite seminar in Barbados, concludes by citing the key elements of success in the Barbados social partnership model: degree of acceptability at the top political and administrative levels; a united and disciplined trade union movement; a well-organized and all-embracing private sector organization and a common vision shared by all stakeholders.

The full text of Fashoyin's study is available at the ILO Caribbean Office's website: http://www.ilocarib.org.tt/system_links/link6tst.html

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