A TRIPARTITE SOCIAL PARTNERS’ Forum on Employment and Poverty Alleviation urgently needs to be convened. This forum should seek to address the paradox of jobless growth, particularly the predicament of “dangerously high” levels of youth unemployment that pose potential security threats to the island urgently.
In calling for a forum, we are not calling for a talk shop, but rather a task force for employment and employability to address the challenge of a “ticking time bomb” and to produce tangible recommendations for achieving sustainable work, including measures to mobilise employers’ organisations, trade unions, and government, each of which has a role to play, both individually and together.
Barbados has a rich history of productive social partnership. As a result of the economic turbulence in the 1990s the social partners have in the past met and together found ways, instruments and ideas that served the collective good, allowing all parties to meet their individual goals. Social partnership represents an efficient way to develop strategies and policies to achieve the agreed objectives. However the efficacy of social dialogue rests on the hinges of honest, open communication and the willingness to share information, listen to objections and adjust postured positions.
Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) is calling on employer and trade union organizations to become an influential driving force by strengthening their capacities; to work with government in the elaboration of employment policies; to promote the expression of skills-based needs in terms of quality and quantity (human capital skill plan).
Further, partners must commit to play a dynamic role in education and training systems; support the development of SMEs and micro-businesses; cultivate tax compliance and social responsibility and acknowledge that employers should develop the skills of their employees and young graduates.
The BEC calls on trade unions, within and outside the umbrella of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados, to participate fully in sectoral strategies and employment policies; establish mutual trust with economic operators through calm, effective and sustainable social dialogue, to make businesses more competitive, and to acknowledge the principle that wealth creation comes from business. Simply put, profitable businesses are sustainable businesses which employ persons and are positioned to offer better benefits and social programmes.
Government members, are called to support measures to improve the business climate; to improve rankings for doing business and boost investor confidence; enhance capacity for launching sectoral strategies to stimulate growth; adapt legislation to reflect changes in the labour market and different economy types; adjust sectoral strategies and employment policies; work effectively to tackle the informal economy and to support the development of small and medium enterprises and micro-businesses, which offer enormous potential for future job creation.
The BEC makes the call to work together on an employment pact for Barbados, with a full Social Partnership meeting to be held as a matter of urgency with a biannual conference thereafter to provide updates on the road map and assess the implementation of the pact.
Anthony Walcott, executive director of the Barbados Employers Confederation.
