Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Barbados (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report.

Based on the comments made by the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC), the Committee notes that trade unions have to convince the Labour Department that they represent more than 50 per cent of workers in a bargaining unit before being granted recognition. This may create problems as a majority union which fails to secure an absolute majority might be denied the possibility of bargaining. In its 1994 General Survey (paragraph 241), the Committee had expressed the view that, in such situations, collective bargaining rights should be granted to all the unions in the unit, at least on behalf of their own members.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide in its next report information on the collective bargaining process that applies where a trade union represents less than 50 per cent of workers in a bargaining unit.

The Committee notes the comments made by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in a communication dated 8 July 2002. The ICFTU states that: (1) while workers’ rights to collective bargaining are provided for by law, there is no specific requirement for the recognition of a union by an employer; in this context, several foreign multinationals tried to exploit this legal omission in order to refuse recognition of their employees’ trade union; and (2) there are legal protections of workers’ rights, including prohibition of anti-union discrimination, but insufficient redress for victims of such discrimination. The Committee requests the Government to transmit its comments thereon.