1.

Theme: / The vision of the Caribbean Social Partners on the participatory approach: the promotion of the consultative function and social dialogue
Date: / Monday 14th May, 2007 (05:00 – 06:30pm.)
By: / The Social Partners from the Caribbean Region
-Mr. George de Peaña – General Secretary of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL)
-Mr. Marcel Meyer – President of the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC)
  1. Introduction

In the Caribbean Region the Governments of all countries have since the 2nd World War, placed quite some emphasis on social dialogue and the consultative function with the traditional social partners being the duly mandated organizations of Workers and Employers.

As our world is constantly changing under the influence of global forces, the Governments and their traditional Social Partners i.c. organized workers and employers, are nowadays confronted with a number of new issues, that are not directly within the core mandate of the tri-partite setting, challenging the 3 partners to enter into “Strategic Alliances” with the other actors at national, regional and at the global scene, when dealing with social- and economic issues such as: Industrial Relations, skills development, investment climate, productivity, trade related issues, effect of global changes etc. etc.

The Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) have contributed substantially to the process of economic transformation since the colonial days and together with the Governments these organizations were able to establish a stable Industrial Relations Climate, while progress was made in the modernization of the labyrinth of Labour Regulations under the guidance of the ILO, the International Labour Organization. Workers and Employers are still thé creators of Wealth and Employment in the different States as well as in the region as a whole.

The Charter of Civil Society of the CARICOM in its most recent version recognizes the aforementioned:

Art. Ia:
“Social Partners” shall mean the Government of a State, Associations of Employers, Workers Organizations and such Non-Governmental Organizations as the State may recognize
Art. XXII:
Social Partners
The States undertake to establish within their respective States a framework for genuine consultations among the social partners in order to reach common understandings on and support for the objectives, contents and implementation of national economic and social programmes and their respective roles and responsibilities in good governance.
  • What is the core business of each actor representing one of the new clusters?
  • Why tripartism does not any longer respond to all the needs of the total community?
  • Which are the Non-State Actors in the different States and/or in the Region?
  • What are the possibilities for NSA’s in the COTONOU Agreement?
  • What is our role during the EPA-negotiations?

Organized Labour and organized Employers were under international, regional and national pressures the first to be accepted as “Social Partners” of the Governments to partially share power in the area of socio-economic development of the States.

Tripartite bodies were established, socio-economic councils followed and social contracts were signed in a few countries.

But the situation changed since the 50-ties and the 3 partners were constantly questioned about their role as social partners and their influence in the socio-economic development of the countries.

While in the 1950-ties labour regulations were necessary to protect the workers against exploitation by enterprises, when producing for economies outside of our region. The present situation calls for pro-active measures to secure training and skills development for quality improvement, efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of all layers of economic production namely: large, medium, small and micro-enterprises.

In today’s world “National Socio-Economic Policies” are not any longer shaped by:

-Politicians alone;

-Politicians in an alliance with Trade Unions;

-Politicians together with their social partners.

Apart from the Social and Economic Partners other “Non-State-Actors” appeared at the scene and are increasingly demanding for a role in formulating and implementing the aforementioned policies i.c.

  • The private sector
  • The civil-society (NGO’s, human rights groups, women, youth etc.)

Keywords in the EU-ACP-arena are:

  • Governments; local Governments
  • Social Partners Organization
  • Social dialogue, Representativity
  • Trade Unions, Employers, Private Sector, Civil Society, NGO’s
  • Pro-Active approach
  • Strategic Alliances
  • Partnerships
  • COTONOU/EPA’s and others

2.The COTONOU-Agreement, what is in for the Non – State Actors (NSA’s)

The Cotonou-Agreement, signed in 2000 between the ACP- and the EU-States a.k.a. the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (C.P.A.) has bestowed upon the Non-State Actor a very special role, which is summarized in this chapter.

In this agreement the EU and the ACP-States have agreed to increase the role of non-state-actors in the preparation and the implementation of the Partnership Agreement.

Partnership in all segments of the Society, - Partnerships between all NSA’s from the ACP and the EU and others.

A.None-State-Actors

Non-State-Actors are defined in Art. 6 of the Cotonou-Partnership-Agreement as comprising of:

a)The Private Sector

b)Economic and social partners (such as trade unions) and Employers

c)Civil Society, in all its forms according to national characteristics

At the ACP-side “Civil Society” comprises only the following:
Human rights groups and agencies, grassroots organizations, women’s associations, youth organizations, child-protection organizations, indigenous peoples’ representatives, environmental movements, farmers’ organizations, consumer associations, religious organizations, development support structures (NGOs, teaching and research establishments), cultural associations and the media.

B.Local Governments

The Cotonou Agreement clearly recognizes the distinct role of “local governments” as new actors in development and cooperation processes.

The role of the non-state-actors (Cotonou)

The wide-ranging role foreseen for non-state is laid down in article 4 of the Agreement, which indicates in particular that they are to be:
  • Informed and consulted on cooperation policies and strategies, on priorities for cooperation, especially in areas that concern or directly affect them, and on the political dialogue;
  • Provided with financial resources in appropriate circumstances;
  • Involved in the implementation of cooperation projects and programmes in areas that concern them or where they have a comparative advantage;
  • Provided with capacity building support in critical areas to reinforce their capabilities, particularly as regards organization and representation, the establishment of consultation mechanisms, including channels of communication and dialogue and to promote strategic alliances.

In the CPA it is explicitly mentioned that the NSA’s will be provided with financial resources in appropriate circumstances.This is legally binding.

The strategies for the involvement of the different categories of NSA’s are contained in:

Art. 21 – Private sector development

Art. 25 – Social Development

Others (NGO’s) – Different articles

Because of the different mandates and roles, the 3 clusters of NSA’s must firstly “dialogue” amongst themselves and secondly form Strategic Alliances with the other clusters to participate in the dialogue of others.

In other words, consultation takes place at 3 levels of the NSA’s in:

  1. A Social and Economic Partners Forum at the level of the Unionized Private Sector (Employers Trade Unions, Government, Governments + others). Bipartite and Tripartite consultations along the existing structures.
  2. A Business Forum or Council
  3. An NGO-Forum at the grass-roots level

The functioning of the 3 fora requires that:

Sub A:At the level of the Social and Economic Partners the other actors will have to be involved in special Committees to be heard on issues which are of importance to their mandate. Enterprises should linkup with the Private Sector.

Sub B:At the level of the Private Sector, Employers must participate actively in a Business Council to defend the interest of especially the smaller and medium sized enterprises.Transfer of know-how, training possibilities and code of ethics can be attracted from the cluster Sub A.

Sub C:At the level of the “Civil Society Private Sector” Organizations must be enhanced and linkages with the DPS are necessary.

It is clear that such a structuring should take place in every country from the Caribbean Region, as well as at the CARIFORUM on Wider Caribbean Regional Level.

The first steps were already initiated by the CARIFORUM-Secretariat, which has facilitated the establishment of a Caribbean Non-State-Actors Network for consultation towards the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the Caribbean Region.

3.The role of Social Dialogue in the Caribbean Region

The CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM) has adopted in 1992 the revised Charter of Civil Society upon the recommendation of the West Indian Commission. All Member States of the Community have subscribed to the Charter.

In this Charter all Member States of CARICOM declared to be determined to: promote economic growth and sustainable development through the wise use of the human and natural resources.

Apart from safeguarding the Workers’ Rights, the role of the Social Partners has explicitly been mentioned as to be:

“The States undertake to establish within their respective States a framework for genuine consultation among the social partners in order to reach common understandings on and support for the objective, contents and implementation of national economic and social programmes and their respective roles and responsibilities in good governance”.

The Caribbean States have recognized since the establishment of CARICOM that “social dialogue” can be a driving force for innovation and change, when complemented by the quality of industrial relations.

The tripartite partners: Governments, Employers and Workers are aware of the fact that social dialogue plays a key role at all levels of economic production in promoting modernization and competitiveness.

In the past decade much emphasis was placed in the Caribbean region by the Governments, the ILO-Caribbean Office, the regional and national social partners on the future role of social dialogue as a key to Improved Governance and social reform, during the era of globalization, economic integration and trade liberalization. Measures were taken to strengthen the social dialogue at different levels.

The key challenges to be addressed by the tripartite partners are among others.

  • The promotion of social dialogue at all levels (enterprise, national and regional) throughout the wider Caribbean.
  • Enhancing skills and qualifications
  • Modernizing work organizations
  • Equal opportunities and diversity
  • Productivity and gain sharing
  • Active ageing policies
  • Modernization and management of change

The States recognizes that Good Governance relies on the involvement of all actors in decision-making and also in the implementation process. Social partners have a unique position within the Civil Society (NON STATE ACTORS), because they are best placed to address issues related to work and can negotiate agreements which include commitments. The awareness to this fact must be promoted actively. CCL and CEC are the frontrunners in this movement.

The vital role of social dialogue is known and has been underlined by all parties involved, but one weakness has surfaced being the urgent need to strengthen the capacity of the social partners at all levels to involve the meaningful in the dialogue process.

In the Caribbean Region two major and highly successful activities took place in the strengthening of social dialogue in this part of the world.

A.At Regional level

In 1998, the European Union (DG VIII and DG V) decided to fund a pilot project: “Promotion of Social Dialogue in the Wider Caribbean” as an example of decentralized cooperation.

The project was jointly carried out by the CEC, the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation and the CCL, the Caribbean Congress of Labour; in close cooperation with the ILO, Caribbean Office, during the period 1999 and 2000.

B.At the enterprise level

In the period 2000-2004 the PROMALCO-Project was executed as: Promotion of Human Resource Oriented Enterprise Strategies and Workplace Partnerships in the Caribbean”, better known as Promotion of Management/Labour Cooperation”.

The US-Department of Labour through the ILO funded this project and the ILO-Caribbean Office established a PROMALCO Unit within their Organization that managed the project in close cooperation with the regional social partners (CEC, CCL), the Caribbean Governments, the Barbados Productivity Centre, CARICAD and the UWI.

These 2 activities (A and B) form the basis of a 3rd project as mentioned and is titled “Promoting Social Dialogue for Enhanced Productivity and Competitiveness in Caribbean Regional Integration”.

The project will in broad lines follow the same management structure and aims primarily at strengthening the social partners in their capacity to participate in the enterprise, national and regional social dialogue far more meaningful than before.

By integrating the social dialogue effect, the social partners are able to contribute in a structured way towards enhancement of the national competitiveness and the socio-economic progress of the Caribbean States.

It is until recently that through the RPTF (Regional Preparatory Task Force) for EPA-negotiations the CCL and the CEC could obtain a positive reply to their request for funding for this very meaningful activity.

4.The establishment of a Non-State Actors Network in the Caribbean Region for consultation during negotiation

As the EPA-negotiations came to the scene as a part of the Cotonou-Agreement, the negotiators became aware of the fact that structured consultation of the Non-State Actors is a vital prerequisite for the success of the Economic Partnership between the European Union and the Caribbean Region.

Following the launch of the EPA negotiations in the Caribbean on April 16th, 2004, it was agreed that a Non-State Actor (NSA) Network would be established to contribute a consultative body that would provide inputs from various spectrum of the Caribbean community to the negotiating process and the negotiators.

In the RPTF (Regional Preparatory Task Force – established to oversee cooperation matters related to the EPA negotiations) of March 2006, it was decided that the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) would coordinate the 1st meeting of non-state actors to discuss the EPA negotiations and to establish the NSA Caribbean Network. The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) would provide logistical support. The Director of CEDA, Mrs. Taiana Moira-Ramis, was a driving force in the bringing together of the different Non-State Actors.

The main objectives of this meeting were to agree on the key issues that concern the Non-State Actors in the region and to establish the NSA’s- Network, its guidelines and membership.

The meeting was held on June 23rd at the Hotel Intercontinental in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and was the first one in its kind.

The CEC was coordinating this first meeting of the NSA-Network and a Steering Committee composed of a representative of the following regional organization of CEDA, CEC, CCL, CAIC and CPDC is now in place to coordinate the further activities of the Caribbean NSA-Network.

In fact the conclusions of the meeting coincide with the idea of the establishment of a Caribbean Social and Economic Council, as proposed by CEC and the CCL to the CARICOM for the Consultations towards the CSME.

The Non-State Actors from the Caribbean Area were able to dialogue amongst themselves and some preliminary conclusions can be drawn fro this new development.

a)The Steering Committee of the NSA-Network represents all categories of Non-State Actors as contained in the Cotonou-Agreement being:

-Social & Economic Partners (CCL, CEC)

-Private Sector (The CAIC: Caribbean Association for Industry and Commerce)

-Civil Society (the CPDC = the CaribbeanPolicyDevelopmentCenter)

b)In fact the NSA-Network will be the “mirror” of the EESC that is established with: Employers, the Trade Unions and various Economic- and Social Interest Groups.

c)We should take into account the historical role of Labour, Employers, Private Sector Associations and NGO’s from the Caribbean into account, when moving forward.

d)The NSA-Network seeks the support from the European Economic and Social Committee for the next steps to be undertaken.

Without being complete the following areas can be mentioned:

  • The promotion of the NSA-Network within the European Union
  • Technical Assistance towards the further set up of the NSA-Network
  • The transformation of the NSA-Network into a CSEC, a genuine Caribbean Social and Economic Council.
  • The promotion of exchange of know-how between all categories of NSA’s from Europe and those from the Caribbean region.
  • The encouragement of the Caribbean States to establish at a national level the similar structure for Social and Economic dialogue.
  • The mapping of NSA’s in the entire Caribbean Region.
  • The modalities for financing of such a Network and its activities.

The CEC and the CCL have closely and intensively worked together during the preparation (before 2000) and the implementation of the Cotonou-Agreement and the time has come that organizations such as ours are fully recognized by Governments from the Region as well as from the rest of the world as to be committed partners in processes of regional, hemispheric and global economic integration.

Paramaribo, May 2007

Mr. George de Peaña

General Secretary of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL)

Mr. Marcel Meyer

President of the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC)

The participatory approach: the promotion of the consultative function and social dialogue
14-16 MAY, 2007 – BARBADOS