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Working Man
We must learn to live together as brothers or we are going to perish together as fools. Martin Luther King Jr.
Workers, it is now time for a new Majority Rule! Will we as workers continue to allow the elite and non-Bahamians to get all the benefits this
country has to offer? Will we continue to allow the middle class to disappear? There has to be a dream that we can also aspire to and also
achieve. But as Sir Clifford said, It is not reverse discrimination but elitism.
How do we get rid of elitism? It is time, sisters and brothers, to now truly support the Union, particularly as we now operate in an anti-union
environment throughout our country. It is so simple but yet we continue to fall prey to the old divide and conquer method. Let us all cut out the
bickering, backbiting, backstabbing, gossiping, conniving, manipulating, two-facedness, and, in essence, being duplicitous; it is time to be united.
Majority Rule in 1967 paved the path for the Bahamas and the trade union movement. Therefore, all workers in our country must realize that we
are the movers and shakers here. It is time to put aside politics, personalities and anything that keeps us divided and to show all that we, the
workers of our country, must again make decisions that advance our country to the next level.
Let us all today recommit to supporting the Union by being our sisters and brothers keepers. Workers, wake up and realize that you are the
change that will make a difference. In the words of President Barack Obama, Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait
for some other time. We are the ones weve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Solidarity, for the Union makes us strong!
Bay Street was a shambles late this afternoon with Nassaus main thoroughfare deserted except for detachments
of armed troops and policemen patrolling the City. It was the aftermath of the biggest and most disastrous riot in
the history of the Colony.
The trouble started yesterday after men on the site of a vast project now under way in New Providence staged a
strike in protest against wages being paid. In consequence of the strike, representatives of the Government met
labor leaders and it was agreed that the men would go back to work pending negotiations.
It appears that this morning the men did not go to work but marched into the city to stage a demonstration in
the Public Square. By the time the procession reached the city, the number had swelled to thousands. Almost
every plate glass window in George Street, including the Red Cross Centre and on Bay Street as far east as the
Public Square was smashed. Men broke into shops looting dry goods, shoes, groceries, perfumes and merchandise
of all descriptions. Terrified shop keepers and clerks barricaded themselves in the stores. Bay Street was a
seething mass of humanity. All through the morning, the city was under a Reign of Terror.
At the outbreak of the riot the police were called out. By the time they were able to take steps, the whole of
lower Bay Street had been wrecked and the crowds had reached the Public Square. The situation was already
beyond the control of the police and the British Forces were summoned for emergency duty.
Labor leaders and the representative citizens tried to restore order but they were shouted down and in some
cases attacked. Isolated groups ranged as far east as Armstrong Street, looting stores.
Troops, police and rioters fought up and down Bay Street. Eventually, early in the afternoon, the city was
cleared and Bay Street lay deserted in a mass of wreckage.
During the day, the Riot Act was read and the armed forces were given orders to use force if necessary. A
curfew was ordered from 8 oclock tonight to 6 o clock tomorrow morning and the populations was warned that no
one should appear in the streets except in cases of emergency , in which even they should stop immediately on
being challenged. The armed forces have been given authority to take all necessary steps. The curfew will remain
in force nightly until further notice.
A deputation of Bay Street merchants waited on His Excellency, the Acting Governor today. This afternoon, the
scene of the disturbance shifted into Grants Town. All traffic between the Southern District and the City was
stopped. Rioters fought pitched battles with the armed forces and several casualties resulted. An ambulance was
taken over by the rioters in Grants Town and was eventually burned up.
Burma Road
Workers
Revolt!
Rioters Leave Bay Street in
Ruins
The Nassau Daily Tribune
Monday June 1st, 1942
It assures you job security against being fired without just cause.
It guarantees you a wage on which you and your family can live more
comfortably.
It sets up a seniority clause putting an end to the practice of first employed to
be first fired.
In union agreements with the employers, there is a clause whereby the
employer is authorized to deduct, on the first of each month, union dues and
to remit same promptly to the union.
It sponsors a group insurance clause that demands the employer to institute
and maintain a uniform insurance plan providing for sick and insurance
benefits.
Do you still wish to know what a union means to you?
Remember the first of June, 1942? How can you ever forget it?
This was the day when Nassau experienced its first labor crisis.
Disorganized workers at Oakes Field tried in vain to reach agreement with their
employers on matters of wages, hours and conditions of work. The American authorities
desired to pay Bahamians an equitable wage but local officials objected. As a result the
disgruntled and thoroughly dissatisfied laborers marched en masse along Bay Street
bringing destruction with them in the wake of every step. Shops were looted. Men
wounded and many a city merchant became panic stricken. The Riot Act was read: every
policeman alerted. An S.O.S. was dispatched to the Bahamas Defense Company. The
Duke of Windsor, in a broadcast from Washington, D.C., made an urgent appeal to the
workers. At last at 9:00p.m. and only after a curfew had been invoked was the quiet of
the night secured.
The time for decision had arrived.
But it may as well had not come for the leaders were not prepared to accept their full
responsibility. This was their chance to begin to organize labor everywhere (continued in
next column).
It means more jobs for you that would ordinarily go to the foreigner.
It means more pounds in your pockets and more bread on your breakfast
table.
It means that you can stop the leak in your roof, and patch the hole in your
shoe.
It means better education for your children in the West Indian University and a
square deal before the Bar of Justice in a Court of Appeal.
Call the roll of all the laws that have helped the common man in America and
you will have a good history of labor unions.
The Magnificent Six The first six members of the P.L.P. to be elected to Parliament.
Seated from left: Randol Fawkes, Cyril Stevenson and Clarence A. Bain. Standing from
left are: Lynden O. Pindling, Milo B. Butler and Samuel Isaacs. These men were called
The Magnificent Six as the people looked to them to bring about political, social and
economic reform.
Dear Friend,
The time is nigh at hand when you shall have to choose whether you want progress or
whether you want stagnation!
As candidates of the Progressive Liberal Party we stand four square behind the
dreams, hopes and aspirations of our people; for we realize that only by working
together as a team can we overcome the numerous obstacles that have in the past
bound us hands and feet.
WE ARE DETERMINED TO BREAK THESE CHAINS!
The cause for which we strive is the cause of Righteous Government. This crusade is
too big for anyone of us to win alone. We are therefore asking you to join hands with
us in order that together, we, as a people, may take our rightful place in our native
land.
IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE!!
Lynden Pindling
Randol Fawkes
BFSU
Sir Raynor Arthur, the Governor, had alerted the Commander of the Caribbean
area about the incident and asked for a company of British troops to be sent from
Jamaica. He initially feared that the tense racial situation might result in disorder and
violence.
Bahamas Financial
Services Union
On January 29th, 1958, His Excellency at last brought representatives of the Tour
Companies and the Taxi-Union together at a top level conference. At the end of the
talks, the officers of each organization signed a detailed agreement providing for the
more equitable division of transportation of passengers to and from the airport.
Moreover, as a result of the General Strike, additional labor reforms came about as
well. Within three months of the strike, a senior British cabinet minister was in
Nassau pushing for constitutional reforms and later in the year, legislation was
passed to set up a Labor Department and a process for industrial conciliation.
The following year saw the abolition of the company vote; extension of the
franchise to all men over 21; the creation of four new parliamentary seats (all of
which were later won by the PLP); reduction of the plural vote to two; full adult male
suffrage regardless of property qualifications; the right of hotel and agricultural
workers to join unions and the B.F. of L. won substantial wage increases and
overtime pay for construction workers at the Nassau Beach Lodge.
Labour Day
Dr. Elwood Donaldson, Sir Randol and Lady Fawkes Labor Day 1987
When Sir Randol spoke to laboring masses on the first official Labor
Day in 1962, he reflected on the first of June morning in 1942 when
men and women went on a rampage on Bay Street and demanded
better working conditions on the jobsite.
Nassau, Bahamas - The election returns came in sporadically. Neither the whites nor the Negroes believed the totals. Pindlings P.L.P., which had 10 seats
out of the 38 seats in the Assembly, hoped to add a few more. The United Bahamian Party needed only twenty seats to maintain the control. They werent
making it.
.
A silent horror fell over the mansions in the limestone hills. A revolution was in progress. No bullets bounced off the elegant faade of Governor Sir Ralph
Greys mansion. The work was being done with ballots. Ironically, this had been the weapon used by the Bay Street Boys to maintain power over the natives.
ONE BY ONE, the natives began to win the seats. Dr. McMillan in Fort Charlotte; Maurice Moore in Grand Bahama East; Thompson in Eleuthra; Levartiy in
Bimini and West End; Pindling himself in South Andros. When all the returns had been counted, it was obvious that the P.L.P. had eighteen seats; the U.B.P.
had eighteen; A.R. Braynen, an independent, had one; Randol Fawkes and his Labor party had one.
Nobody had a clear majority. The winning party always furnishes the Speaker of the House from the elected Assembly, and neither side could do it without
dropping to seventeen votes. At once a night battle began for Braynens vote, more important Fawkes!
Lynden Pindling offered Braynen the Speakership, and it was accepted. The Speaker had no vote, except when the House is tied. So contending forces
remained 18-18. Fawkes was in his St. Barnabas district, listening to the plaudits of his adherents, when-so he says-the Premier himself paid a personal visit.
SIR ROLAND SYMONETTE is accustomed to having people come to him. He knew and so did Fawkes, that the revolution hinged on a solitary vote. If Bay
Street Boys could bring Randol Fawkes to their side at any price, then Pindling and his colored government was stillborn. Name your terms, the Premier
said. Whatever it is, we will meet it.
Fawkes has a boyish grin that hides embarrassment. He poured it on. A few years earlier he had been banished from the islands; had carried cakes of ice in
Harlem to keep alive. Now he could name his terms to the Premier of her Majestys Government. Would he ask a million? A half a million and a ministry?
The Negro said he was sorry. He had decided to go along with Pindling. He had no terms; no price. It is incredible that, in a lazy group of islands where votes
can be bought like seashells, a man chose not to be rich. The answer was, No.
This gave Lynden O. Pindling a Speaker and a 19-18 majority in the House. Sir Roland and his Government resigned. That night people danced in the streets.
Black-tie diners in the Bahamian Club and Buena Vista sipped expensive soups absent-mindedly. The world had come to an end.
SOLIDARITY FOREVER!
Belinda Wilson
President,
The Bahamas Union of Teachers
Almighty and everlasting God, inspire me as I relate what uncommon courage was exhibited by common men and women
in the founding of our new Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Sir Randol Fawkes The Faith that Moved the Mountain