Reader intended to stimulate thinking about the future direction of national and regional labour policies, with a view to good governance in terms of participation, transparency, credibility and accountability. Includes case studies from a number of Caribbean countries as well as ILO contributions by S.J. Goolsarran on labour administration and social dialogue, and an extract from "Labour inspection: a guide to the profession", by W. von Richthofen.

Study of labour relations in Trinidad and Tobago, the OECS, Jamaica, Belize and Guyana - gives the historical background and political aspects, covers economic structures, patterns of trade unionism and management, collective bargaining, strike and unofficial strike activities, etc., proposes remedial economic policy and labour policy measures, and comments on relevant labour legislation. Bibliography pp. 278 to 283 and statistical tables.

Describes developments in labour relations and trade unionism in the Caribbean from the end of the slave era in 1838 to 1991. Speculates on future directions.

Law and Employment analyzes the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets and presents empirically grounded studies of the costs of regulation. Numerous labor regulations that were introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés document the behavior of firms attempting to stay in business and be competitive while facing the high costs of complying with these labor laws. They challenge the prevailing view that labor market regulations affect only the distribution of labor incomes and have little or no impact on efficiency or the performance of labor markets. Using new micro-evidence, this volume shows that labor regulations reduce labor market turnover rates and flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers. Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States. The book breaks new ground by quantifying not only the cost of regulation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in the OECD, but also the broader impact of this regulation.

Industrial Relations Law and Practice in Jamaica is a practical handbook written primarily for persons involved in the day-to-day administration of employer-employee relations in both the public and private sectors. At the same time, its wide ranging examination of the main elements of the law and the general climate of industrial relations, makes this book a useful reference manual for entrepreneurs, policy makers and students. Among the core topics discussed are collective bargaining the settlement of disputes; grievance and disciplinary procedures; conciliation and arbitration. Current issues such as worker participation. Sexual harassment at eh workplace and the concept of a social partnership are among the new topics discussed. There is an extensive appendix section containing key policy and other documents as well as useful index.

Sound and constructive labour relations are an important condition for sustained economic and social development. Yet practice-orientated publications of a comparative nature on labour relations in developing countries, designed to facilitate decision-making by governments as well as employers' and workers' organizations, are exceptionally rare.