The call was made by UWI lecturer, business employment and trade consultant Edwin Cobham as he delivered the University of the West Indies Open Campus on the topic The Tribunalisation of Employment Justice In Barbados: The Past, Present And Prospects For The Future at the Frank Collymore Hall yesterday.

He said such a tribunal would oversee legislation, regulations and conventions which dealt with employee justice.

Cobham also suggested effective oversight of employment justice institutions with the requisite legislation which took into consideration the volume of work done in the International Labour Office over the years for better working conditions.

Cobham said too that employees rights were diffused in Barbados and called for an institution to oversee the legislation, regulations and conventions that dealt with employment justice, in a satisfactory manner.

Furthermore he argued, the notion of employment justice in most instances did not exist.

As part of his presentation, Cobham used a number of slides showing work and the historical development of employment justice to back up his point about inadequate employment justice.

He stressed that employment justice had not always been meted out and there was a desire to have it done via the requisite institutional capacities.

"Out of my research, I have discovered that all of the institutions designed to deal with employment justice have indeed fallen far short.

"Inspite of tri-partism, there has not been a sufficiently concerted effort to design institutions that would be capable of delivering the kind of justice that we deserve as people living in a democratic society."

The trade consultant also criticised employers who failed to invest in human capital the way they did in replacing obsolete office equipment. (JW)