Caricom’s social partners
Editorial
WHILE WE await the official communiqué from the 20th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit that concluded in Port-of-Spain last evening, it must be noted with regret that the Community’s heads of government persist in a policy with their social partners that needs critical review. These social partners, which have consultative status with the Community, are the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), representing the region’s private sector; the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), voicing the concerns of organised labour; and the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), the umbrella body of the region’s community of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). For all the claimed commitment by governments of the Community to involve these social partners in the planning and decision-making processes for the social and economic development of the peoples of the region, the reality is that there is still a yawning gap between promise and practice. It has now become an annual ritual for the CARICOM leaders to “give audience” to the representatives of these three major regional organisations – the CAIC, CCL and CPDC – when they meet for their regular heads of government conference. Often, it is just for an hour or, at the most, 90 minutes. Then, the long wait before any such “consultation” at that level. The representatives of these organisations, though faced with their own financial and human resource limitations, produce for their inter-action session with the CARICOM leaders reasonably well-researched position papers on a range of issues on regional and international importance to the Community. But often they have left such meetings with a sense of apprehension about likely positive results. The question is to what extent are the views/ideas of the social partners being allowed to filter through the varying layers of the system of governance at the national and regional level. Or is it that the governments think it is sufficient to engage the social partners in dialogue at their annual meetings without involving them, even as resource persons, in negotiations on trade, economic and investment issues that impact directly on the constituencies they represent. Instead of waiting for an annual one-hour or 90-minute meeting with delegations from the social partners, the CARICOM leaders should ensure they are fully sensitised to the views of the CAIC, CCL and CPDC well in advance of an annual summit. 
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