There is need for a Caricom Administrative Tribunal

Dear Editor,

The recent Caricom Heads of Government Conference dealt with several issues as witnessed by its final communiqué.  Many important issues were however overshadowed (if not omitted) largely because of the need to debate differences over issues such as immigration.   One such omission had to do with the rights of workers within Caricom itself, its various institutions and entities, and the settlement of related employment disputes by way of the establishment of a Caricom Administrative Tribunal.

The subject is important  for staff associations, unions, employers and employees, and anyone interested in labour and industrial relations, including the staff of most, if not all regional and international organizations within the Caribbean.  Regrettably, the subject was never acted upon by the Heads of Government Conference, despite its continuing relevance and obvious importance.  (I myself had raised it in correspondence to the Secretary-General and to several governments in the region.)

The raison d’être for such a Caricom Admin Tribunal and indeed for all international administrative tribunals is quite clear.  It is the resolution of disputes between employer and employee in regional and international organizations. Such organizations are usually immune from suits before national courts.  The Caricom tribunal we propose would be in most respects similar to those at the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, the OAS, the IDB, the Council of Europe, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and others.

This idea is a major one for several reasons.  Caricom, Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (Caricad), Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Cardi) and the Caricom Research Centre have been in existence for decades.  There are some twenty or more Caricom institutions/ associate institutions throughout the Caribbean.  Per Article 21 of the Revised Treaty, Caricom institutions include the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Res-ponse Agency, Caribbean Meteorolo-gical Institute, Caribbean Meteorologi-cal Organisation, Caribbean Food Corporation, Caribbean Environment Health Institute, Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Cardi), Caribbean Regional Centre for the Education and training of Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Assistants, Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians, Caricad, Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute, Caribbean Examinations Council, Caricom Single Market and Economy, Caribbean Court of Justice, Caricom Competition Commission, Caribbean Regional Information and Translation Institute.  Per Article 22, Associate Caricom Institutions include the Caribbean Development Bank, University of Guyana, University of the West Indies, Caribbean Law Institute / Caribbean Law Institute Centre (CLIC) and the OECS.

The importance of such a tribunal for these institutions and associate institutions and their employees is therefore abundantly clear.  If something goes wrong, their employees may not normally be able to sue before the local courts because of the law of diplomatic privileges and immunities.  Absent any impartial, independent forum to resolve such disputes, disgruntled employees are left to their own devices.  Employment disputes in such a context can only fester and debilitate the necessary staff morale in any organization.

Establishment of such a tribunal would thus bring Caricom into line with other major regional and international organizations.  It would also be consistent with specific provisions concerning workers’ rights, women’s rights, equality before the law, and non-discrimination, contained in the Charter of Civil Society adopted by Caricom heads of government in 1997 and the Declaration on Labour and Industrial Relations Principles adopted by Caricom labour ministers in 1995.  Above all, such a tribunal would plug the serious gap within the Caricom with respect to employer/ employee issues which have arisen within Caricom institutions, eg  Cardi, Caricad, Caricom itself, and will eventually arise within the CSME.

We first canvassed this idea of a Caricom Administrative Tribunal back in 2007, before initiating a lawsuit, Johnson v. CARICAD, AR 2 of 2008, before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).   That case – the second case invoking the CCJ’s original jurisdiction – involved claims of national origin discrimination by an employee against Caricad, the regional institution per Article 21 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, charged with improving public sector management throughout the Caribbean.

On April 9, 2009, I delivered a paper at the UWI Law Faculty in Barbados proposing a draft statute for a Caricom Admin Tribunal.  I had also circulated an earlier draft when I was privileged to give the Lunchtime Lecture at the governing Barbados Democratic Labour Party Institute of Politics on Friday, February 13, 2009.

Following my efforts to highlight this issue, I learned that Caricom HR managers may have allegedly authorized Caricad to develop a proposal for a Caricom Admin Tribunal.   So far as I know, Caricad has never in its known history ever conducted any sort of legal seminar.  Its alleged expertise is public sector management.  It also remains a defendant in a matter alleging discrimination against some of its employees, the CCJ having earlier declined to exercise jurisdiction in a similar matter.

In the final analysis, what is clear is that prior to Johnson v. CARICAD, CCJ AR2 of 2008, no one took any practical steps to establish for Caricom such an admin tribunal, which is today the norm in international organizations.  Our draft statute therefore represents a serious initiative in the area.

Our considered view is that the University of the West Indies, specifically, the Faculties of Law, Public Sector Management, and Government, CLIC, along with interested parties, should be charged with the responsibility of developing a Caricom Administrative Tribunal.  The idea of establishing such a tribunal to hear employer/employee disputes within Caricom is a serious, substantive initiative and should go forward in this more positive and constructive context.

Yours faithfully,
Caleb M. Pilgrim
Temporary Lecturer in Law (UWI)