IT’S TIME TO get back to the basics but with some changes to keep up with the evolving times.
That was the advice today from Cedric Murrell, head of the head of the Council of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), as Barbados’ smouldering industrial relations landscape came under the microscope during a full-scale meeting of the country’s Social Partnership.
“We need to return to the underpinnings that first led to the formation of the Social Partnership,” Murrell advised a full-house consultation of the Social Partnership at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
The meeting, the first full collective of the tri-partite players in exactly 12 months, was chaired by Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, and attracted the full Cabinet, the Barbados Private Sector Association and other sectoral players.
“We have been on this road before,” Murrell added, reminding those on hand of the period in the 1990’s when there were a pair of national strikes, and a strike of the tourism sector was barely averted.
“But there is no mountain that we cannot surmount, given the challenges that we face today,” he said.
Murrell noted that there was enough evidence that Barbadians felt there was not enough respect and trust being shown on both sides.
“We have to find a delicate balance going forward. We must brush off protocol and revise the Social Partnership to make it work for 2015 and beyond,” Murrell suggested.
Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart was clearly expecting plenty from the meeting.
“I hope we can have a civilised exchange,” he said at the start, while admitting that things across Barbados had changed since the social partnership was first envisioned 22 years ago.
“We’ve had our challenges. We want to have a fruitful and fertile exchange on issues of importance to our respective social partners,” Stuart added.
Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association, Alex MacDonald felt likewise. “Our aim is always to put Barbados first,” he said during his opening remarks.
“Our focus is to agree and implement the best possible solutions to keep our nation on a sound footing,” McDonald noted.
“We are here to build avenues of communication and trust. There is no room here for recriminations or finger-pointing. We are here to maintain our commitment to what we see as the foundation principles that first brought us to the Social Partnership as a concept.” (BA)
