Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

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

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It expects that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments initially made in 2013.

Repetition

The Committee had previously requested the Government to provide information on the recognition in practice, by employers, of trade unions wishing to bargain in the name of their members despite representing less than 50 per cent of the workers in a bargaining unit. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that recognition is usually only sought when a trade union represents 50 per cent of workers or more. However, in the event that a union does not have the required membership, the decision to recognize is at the employer’s discretion. The Government adds that, in case where recognition is resisted, a trade union can seek the conciliation services in the Labour Department, which can be used by a trade union to negotiate. The Committee considers that under a system of the designation of an exclusive bargaining agent, if no union represents the required percentage of workers (50 per cent in Barbados) to be declared the exclusive bargaining agent, 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 take the necessary measures in order to ensure that if no union represents the required percentage of workers to be declared the exclusive bargaining agent, collective bargaining rights should be granted to all the unions in the unit, at least on behalf of their own members. It requests the Government to provide information on all measures taken or envisaged in this regard.