Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Barbados (Ratification: 1983)

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 2011 direct request, which read as follows:

Repetition

Effective tripartite consultations required by the Convention. The Committee notes the comments from the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), sent to the Government in September 2011. In its previous reports, the Government indicated that it established a Standing Tripartite Committee to ensure effective consultations between representatives of the Government, employers and workers regarding matters covered by the Convention. The BWU wishes for more frequent meetings of the Tripartite Committee although it recognizes that the Subcommittee of the Tripartite Social Partnership meets monthly and full discussions are held there. The infrequency of meetings has caused the Tripartite Committee to be in a position where it is debating matters after the fact rather than before they reach the final decision stage. The BWU also indicates that the Tripartite Committee has failed to follow through on a number of its commitments (for example, the discussions concerning the issues that would be brought before the International Labour Conference have not taken place, and the Chairman of the Tripartite Committee has not been represented in the Barbados Delegation). The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report detailed information on the content and outcome of the tripartite consultations held on matters related to international labour standards covered by Article 5(1) of the Convention.