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Ten years ago, on August 24 1993, the first Protocol to establish a Social Partnership between government, the trade unions and the business community was signed. It reflected the recognition of common interests and established common objectives. It had no penalties attached to it because of the goodwill, trust and mutual respect that had been established between the parties during the negotiating process. It was noted by Parliament and heralded a new era for 'Partners in Progress'.
Before reviewing the Social Partnership itself, it is important to understand the socio-economic environment that existed in Barbados before it came into being. The country was headed for an economic crisis. Something different and dramatic had to be done to retrieve the situation which had been aggravated by the first Gulf War (1990 to 1991) and the global recession that followed it.
We, Barbadians have always been very conscious of our circumstances that allowed for only slim margins of error in dealing with our affairs. As has happened so many times in our history, we realised that we would have to rely once more on our pragmatic nature, on great love for our country and on basic common sense.
In this presentation, I have relied on information contained in the protocol documents and on a presentation that was made by one of my former colleagues. It was made on July 8 1998, at the Central Bank of Barbados, by Mr. R. O. 'Frankie' Jordan, a retired Permanent secretary who was the Executive Director of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry at that time. In his presentation, Mr. Jordan described the socio-economic environment in Barbados from 1990 to 1993 as follows:
'The years 1990, 1991 and 1992 were a period of severe recession with the economy declining by 3.3 per cent, 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. The Government's finances were in a precarious state.
In September 1991, the foreign reserves had been run down to the equivalent of just over 1 week's cover. During this period unemployment averaged between 20 per cent and 25 per cent. These were the symptoms of a major fall off in our foreign exchange earnings from tourism and export agriculture due to external factors, a loss of competitiveness and what...