Question

Explain the concept of tripartite relationships. Identify the parties of such a relationship for the municipality. Discuss how these parties balance the interest of each of the tripartite members, using an appropriate and recent example (ideally something that has been reported on in the media)

Answer 1

Tripartism is economic corporatism based on tripartite contracts between employers' organizations, trade unions, and the government of a country. Each is to act as a social partner to create economic policy through cooperation, consultation, negotiation, and compromise. Tripartism is a common form of and favored by neo-corporatism.

Tripartism became a popular form of economic policy during the economic crisis of the 1930s. Tripartism was supported by a number of different political perspectives at this time: one was Catholic social teaching; fascism supported this for fascist unions but repressed communist and social democratic unions; and in democratic politics. Tripartism is a prominent economic policy in Europe, particularly where Christian Democratic parties influenced by Catholic social teaching have held power; it is a core part of the economic systems in Scandinavia and the Benelux that were put in place by social democratic governments. An example is the national income policy agreement in Finland. Tripartite agreements are an important component in practical labour law, since they cover not only wages, but also issues such as policies on benefits, vacation, workhours and worker safety.

The implications of tripartism in the ILO are manifold. To put it simply, the participation in the ILO deliberations of delegates directly representing the interest of workers and employers adds a connection with economic reality that cannot be reproduced in an organization where governments are the only spokespersons. The roles played by representatives of workers and employers differ markedly. For workers, the ILO is a major instrument to pursue their goals, and they have a much more active agenda than employers. On the other hand, employers frequently play the role of the “brake” on initiatives put forward both by the workers and the Office and its Director-General, to slow action they consider hasty, or which would work against the perceived interest of business.

The ILO(International Labour Organisation) is valuable for both workers and employers because of the voice and influence that it offers them. One author aptly characterizes the importance of tripartism, when discussing the ILO’s remarkable survival through World War II, as having been both a straitjacket and a lifejacket. As the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association put it, "the right conferred upon workers' and employers' organizations must be based on respect for those civil liberties which have been enunciated in particular in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the absence of these civil liberties removes all meaning from the concept of trade union rights. Ever if tripartism makes the ILO far more representative of civil society than any other intergovernmental organization, employers' and workers' organization, employers’ and workers’ organizations necessarily represent the formal economy rather than the huge –and growing-informal economy, especially in developing nations. In addition, with membership of trade unions shrinking in many industrialized states, the representativeness of these organizations even in the formal sector is often questioned. The challenge for the ILO and its constituents is to adapt the tripartite model to a globalizing world, where there are new actors operating outside national frameworks and increasingly diverse forms of voice and representation. Some measures of accommodation have been found, for instance involving cooperation with NGOs in action against child labour, and dialogue with parliamentarians and other important actors.