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32 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 343 (2010-2011)
Rethinking Labor Law in the New Commonwealth Caribbean Economy: A Framework for Change

handle is hein.journals/cllpj32 and id is 347 raw text is: RETHINKING LABOR LAW IN THE NEW COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN ECONOMY: A FRAMEWORK FOR CHANGE Rose-Marie Belle Antoinet I. INTRODUCTION: WHY Do WE NEED TO RETHINK LABOR LAW?' We should rethink labor law in the Commonwealth Caribbean, placing it in a developmental perspective that treats it with the realities of the contemporary work environment and ensures human rights at the workplace. To do this, labor law must assume a focused, philosophical ethos that recognizes collective responsibilities and objectives. The insular contract model, which emphasizes individualistic notions of obligations within an ostensibly neutral, free market economy and pluralistic framework, cannot achieve the desired objective.2 Rather, the State must assume a proactive role in shaping this more responsive labor law. In this sense, regulation is seen not as limiting, but as liberating. Problems that labor law are required to solve come not only from within the boundaries of the employer and worker relationship, but involve broader social issues. In the Commonwealth Caribbean,' these include questions of race, class, gender, and inequities between the developed and developing world as embodied in trade relations. In this regard, work involves social obligations that labor law must acknowledge.4 t LLM, (Cantab), DPhil (Oxon), is the Deputy-Dean (Outreach), Professor of Labour Law and Offshore Financial Law at the Faculty of Law, University of the West-Indies, and a Partner in the firm of Anthony & Antoine. 1. The term Labor Law is used here in the English sense, to mean both Employment Law and the law of Industrial Relations. 2. For an analysis of legal pluralism as it applies to labor law, see Michel Coutu, Labour Law, Legal Pluralism and State Sovereignty, 13 CAN. LAB. & EMP. L.J. 169 (2006-07). 3. The Commonwealth Caribbean is not a formal grouping. It refers simply to those countries in the Caribbean, English speaking, which were former colonies of the United Kingdom and adhere to the common law legal tradition. 4. The Commonwealth Caribbean comprises labor law regimes in the British common law tradition. Most have introduced reforms through statute focusing on basic benefits such as holidays with pay, maternity benefits, health and safety protections, redundancy and minimal forms of social security (pension). Most, but not all jurisdictions, have protection against unfair dismissal and industrial relations have remained largely in the voluntaristic tradition, important exceptions being Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda. Collective agreements supplement statutory terms and conditions of 343