Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

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

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report contains no reply to its previous comments. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments initially made in 2013.

Repetition

The Committee notes the comments made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a communication received on 31 August 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. Protection against acts of anti-union discrimination. The Committee had previously requested the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that in addition to covering cases of anti-union dismissals, a new legislation on employment rights would provide for adequate protection against all other acts of anti-union discrimination envisaged by Article 1 of the Convention, as well as for adequate and dissuasive sanctions aimed at ensuring respect for the right to organize. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that the Employment Rights Act has been passed in Parliament and is now awaiting proclamation. The Committee notes, however, that the Act covers only cases of anti-union dismissals (section 27) and further limits this protection to employees continuously employed for a period of over one year. The Committee recalls that adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination should not be confined to penalizing dismissal on anti-union grounds, but should cover all acts of anti-union discrimination (demotions, transfers and other prejudicial acts) at all stages of the employment relationship, regardless of the employment period, including at the recruitment stage. The Committee reiterates its previous comments and requests the Government to amend the new Act in line with the above. It requests the Government to provide information on all measures taken or envisaged in this regard.

The Committee further notes that while sections 33–37 of the Act provide for the possibility of reinstatement, re-engagement and compensation, the maximum amount of compensation awarded to workers who have been employed for less than two years is five-weeks wages, which, depending on the number of years of continuous employment, is increased by between two-and-a-half and three and a half weeks wages for each year of that period (Fifth Schedule). The Committee considers that the prescribed amounts do not represent sufficiently dissuasive sanctions for anti-union dismissal. It therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the Fifth Schedule of the Act so as to bring the compensation amount to an adequate level, which would constitute a sufficiently dissuasive sanction for anti-union dismissals.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.