Trades Union Involvement

Before there was a federation of labour there was the carpenter’s union and there was the plumber’s union. There was the electrical union and the [longshoreman’s] union at the dock. All these unions existed in splinters. They all had their different meetings, their different goals. I knew of Sir Randol who learned of the power of the unions in New York. He came back home imbibed with that spirit to unite these factions. He knew the power of it. We did not know the power of it. He knew the power of it. He saw it in action in New York. He came home and one night he was invited, or he came. He heard of a meeting of the carpenter’s union in a building on Hay Street just west of Mission Baptist Church. Just west of that on the same side. The carpenters was having a meeting there in the Exuma Society Hall and Sir Randol was there that night to speak to us about the power of unity and he talked about how we can, if we come together, how we can get things done and the matter arise that, we need someone to unite us, that we need a leader. So, I said to my carpenters, to my colleagues, I said, “Look a here. This man has experience. He is already a lawyer, and he has the experience. Let us elect this man to become our leader.” That was the germ of the Bahamas Federation of Labour, and it grew strong. The union was the basic force that brought the PLP into power. The president suggested the only way to [bring change] was to send a message that they would get and that they would respect . . . a general strike. So, he turn and I was the general secretary. And he turned to me, and he said, “Mr. General Secretary what shall we do?” I said, “Let it roll,” and Bay Street was shut down. The city was shut down and the Bay Street Boys become so frantic. About two or three years later I was hired as a labour officer and they put that Fair Labour Standard Act in my hand and wherever in Nassau a worker had a problem they would report it to the Minister of Labour and I would go there and present that to these employers and say, “this is it. You can’t send this worker home except giving him notice and severance pay.” I was the first to use the Fair Labour Standard Act in the 1950’s.”

Bishop Joseph Alexander Zonicle, J.P. 1919- 2022