Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 4 of the Convention. Promotion of collective bargaining. The Committee has previously requested the Government to take measures to ensure that, 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 notes that the Government once again states that more than one union can and does gain recognition as the accredited bargaining agent for the respective bargaining units within a particular workplace, as it is a standard practice under the process of volunteerism. While taking due note of this information, the Committee requests the Government to provide exhaustive information on the possibility for unions to enjoy collective bargaining rights in cases where there is no union representing 50 per cent of the workers concerned, and in particular to give additional concrete examples of collective agreements signed under the above-mentioned circumstances.

Promotion of collective bargaining in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force in the country, the sectors concerned and the number of workers covered by these agreements.