From Industrial Relations to Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago

• Author: Roodal Moonilal
• Pages: 167-196

167

CHALLENGE OF WORKPLACE GOVERNANCE

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From Industrial Relations to

Human Resource Management:

A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago

In this chapter, the term “Caribbean” refers to the Commonwealth Caribbean,

which forms an arc from Jamaica in the north-west to Guyana (formerly

British Guiana) on the South American mainland in the south-east. These

islands are characterised historically by a colonial relationship with Britain.

The region’s labour movement and industrial relations system have been

influenced in large measure by the transfer of the colonial model of “responsible

industrial relations” as handed down from the British. Dunlop’s influential

industrial relations system approach (Poole 1984: 25-28) best characterises

the objectives and framework within which industrial relations were conceived

and acted upon. The emphasis was on order, rule making and constructing a

tripartite apparatus which sought to channel conflict within legal and legislative

parameters towards ensuring the dual goals of industrial peace and economic

prosperity.

This British model quickly came under the fire of localised conflict and

the politics of decolonisation. The result was that, what was essentially a laissez-

faire system, was abandoned in favour of state sanctioned third party

intervention and strong political roles for labour organisations. By the 1980s,

the structural adjustment policies brought about the rapid transformations in

production and work organisation within the Caribbean. The post-structural

adjustment phase left several Caribbean labour markets shattered and threw

established labour codes and practices into disarray. An onslaught of

management initiatives led by the private sector and, at times, referred to as

human resource management (HRM) strategies, came increasingly to influence

work practices at the enterprise level. However, these initiatives have run against

the deeply ingrained traditions, practices and values of Caribbean industrial

relations. The latter, still influential in the region, appears to hinder, if not

completely sabotage, the march of HRM.

168 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

This chapter begins by tracing the early development of the region’s

industrial and labour relations system and seeks to explain the rise of the

HRM model and its consequent failure to find fuller expression in the

Caribbean. We begin in the next section with a stylised history of the

development of Caribbean industrial relations. We then present a brief overview

of the philosophy, strategies and controversies surrounding HRM and focus

in particular on a comparison of the conceptual and practical issues inherent

in the distinction between the HRM approach to managing workplace relations

and the industrial relations (IR) approach. The penultimate section provides

a rather detailed case study of the Iron and Steel Company of Trinidad and

Tobago (ISCOTT), which provides an illustration of some of the challenges

of introducing the HRM model within a framework of traditional adversarial

industrial relations. The concluding section provides an overview of the work,

pointing to the challenges facing the advocates of the new HRM model on

the one hand, while exploring the concerns of the trade unions about these

new developments on the other hand. It also attempts to flesh out the policy

options which the labour movement may wish to reflect upon in light of the

new management initiatives.

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Historically, the Caribbean industrial relations system emerged from a

nascent labour movement which was closely intertwined with the political

struggle for national self-determination. It is important to recognise that the

Caribbean trade unions came first; the period 1934-8 was one of political

unrest and trade union growth (Bolland, 1995). The unionism that emerged,

while not unique to the Caribbean, was highly political and its scope extended

to the articulation of the full range of socioeconomic and political concerns of

the working class (Bean, 1994).

Thus, a defining feature of Caribbean industrial relations as it emerged

following the 1930s was the alliance between trade unions and political parties.

From its inception, the Caribbean labour movement focused not only on

sectarian interest, but on wider social, economic and political issues. In Trinidad

and Tobago, the early labour leaders were all closely allied with a myriad of

political parties with different ideological flavours. Several labour leaders

founded their own political party in a bid to use the trade union constituency

for political advancement. The union-party alliance was intended to provide

labour with policy and legislative protection in their battle with employers.

The marriage of union and party occurred in several ways: (i) where the

union came first and then the leaders formed political parties to contest