Shift in Trade Union movement

“The Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) workshop is for the leadership of the CCL to come up with new innovations and new ways to deal with the Trade Union movement through the region. It is critical for us to look at our challenges and strengths and to find ways to address these issues.”

This was the assessment made by Bahamian Senator Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson, President of the CCL, while in Barbados at a three-day workshop at the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity (BIMAP).

The President told The Barbados Advocate, “The discussions have been informative because the trade union movement has to now adapt to new forms of work that are evolving. We move into the future of work and we have to look into the informal economy, innovation and technology.

“In terms of the informal economy, not necessarily unionising them but establishing partnerships with them; it is an area we have to be cognisant of in this changing environment.

"I don’t think there is a strike culture now, I have always been a proponent of social dialogue and I think that is important that we must go to the table and talk, and if that fails then we get into other forms of action. It is important for the social partners to sit at the table and to have the difficult discussions and determine what is truly available for the workers to have …We must have the difficult discussions and understand that the trade union movement has a vested interest in the country’s performance, they don’t want to see bad happen to the country and the economy because it impacts all of us. However, it is incumbent that we sit down and try to understand each other’s positions and come to a compromise that both can live with.”

She continued, “We are seeing in Barbados and Grenada strikes, but I believe a strike is a last resort when unions have become so frustrated through the lack of social dialogue in getting a matter resolved. We should never became so entrenched in our opposition so much that we don’t want to come to the table; it is about the best interest of the country and the trade union movement is a partner in the country .The Government and trade unions will never always agree on everything, but it is through disagreement that we can see each other’s perspectives, but come up with alternatives.”
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