St. John’s Antigua- With Labour Day just around the corner, President of Antigua & Barbuda Trade Union Congress (TUC) Kim Burdon, said the union is pursuing a tripartite system for the country.
“It brought success in changing the landscape, not only the political, but the labour landscape of Barbados. We have looked at it…and we continue to have dialogue on setting up a tripartite system here where we can look at national issues from a perspective that involves both employer, employee and government,” Burdon said.
Burdon said his organisation has not seen anything substantial from the government as far as buying into the concept.
“We haven’t seen anything substantial coming from them, but we are hopeful that in the foreseeable future we will be able to get them on board and start the process in a more meaningful manner,” he said.
However, Burdon was hopeful that government would continue the open discussions begun during the taxes on allowances consultations earlier in the year.
“We worked very well together on the tax issue, although we had different opinions. There is no reason why we cannot take that approach for every situation,” he said.
The tripartite system comprises of representatives from employee and employer organisations, as well as the government working together. Their main functions are to create methodologies for productivity measurement, management and improvement in the public and private sectors of the workforce.
Tripartite systems are generally organised through Productivity Councils.
