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Taken from “A History of Antigua” by Brian Dyde Page: 250-252
Reproduced with permission from Barbara Arrindell who holds the copyright
‘The creation of the Antigua Employers’ Federation was seen by Bird and the ATLU as little less than a ‘declaration of war against Antiguan workers’: that Moody-Stuart became its chairman was no more than they expected, but its registration under the terms of the 1939 Trades Union Act they found very galling.
Wildcat strikes among stevedores, peasant farmers, factory workers, cane-cutters and cotton-pickers, which began in January, culminated four months later in a general strike, called by the ATLU as the result of a dispute with the Federation over holding the first day of May – May Day – as a workers’ holiday. Urged on by the union the sugar workers in particular had taken the day off despite the employers’ objections, and this had led a week later to an announcement by Moody-Stuart that the Federation would no longer recognise the ATLU as the sole bargaining agent for the employees of the sugar industry.
The general strike call which followed immediately did not meet with universal approval or acceptance, and a not inconsiderable amount of harassment took place in the middle of the month against those workers known, or thought to be, strike-breakers. Governor Blackburne’s attempts at mediation were constantly frustrated by the intransigence shown by both Bird and Moody-Stuart, but eventually he obtained their agreement to the holding of a Board of Inquiry, and the strike was called off two weeks after it had begun. Even so, by the time the man appointed to preside over the inquiry, the eminent West Indian jurist Sir Clement Malone, had arrived a great deal of tension still persisted, especially in St John’s.
The arrest of several union activists on charges of assault had led to a judge being threatened in the street; Malone considered that the police would be unable to cope with any serious trouble, and he suggested to the Governor that he ‘bring in a few troops’. Blackburne, perhaps unwisely, accepted his advice and sent a request for aid to Jamaica, the nearest place where British troops were stationed. The Malone Inquiry into the ‘causes of the dispute which have disrupted industrial relations in the island’ began hearings on 11 June 1951, only to be suspended three days later when the ATLU representatives walked out in protest at the arrival of a company of the 1st Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, and the declaration of a state of emergency.
This may well have allowed some of the more timorous residents of St John’s to sleep more peacefully, but otherwise it served little purpose other than to allow Bird to make capital out of what he saw as the shame the Governor had brought on the island. Certainly nothing occurred which warranted the state of emergency, and the soldiers left after a month having been called upon for nothing. The Inquiry hearings were resumed on 21 July and concluded twelve days later. Among the Inquiry’s findings was nothing that could upset anyone of average intelligence possessed of an ordinary amount of common sense, just as among its recommendations there was none that could not be made to work by anyone not totally blinded by self-interest.
The Board’s report pressed for the removal of fear and suspicion by both the ATLU and the Federation. It rejected the latter’s call for a ban on wildcat strikes as ‘inadvisable and impracticable’, and its demand that the union divorce itself from politics as unrealistic; while criticising the former for its ‘nonchalance’ and ‘irresponsibility’ in trying to introduce the May Day holiday in the way it had. At the same time it urged both to agree with the Government on the creation of a new public holiday to mark Labour Day.
Other recommendations dealt with the settlement of outstanding industrial disputes, including the long-running battle between the union and the Mill Reef Club contractor, but the most important concerned the ownership of land – a subject the Board felt lay behind much of the trouble afflicting the island – and it was considered that improved labour relations would result from the acquisition by the Government of all the tenantry areas of the Antigua Syndicate Estates. All the Inquiry’s findings were accepted, and without too much lamentation on the part of either the ATLU or the Employers’ Federation.
Before the Board had issued its report, Moody-Stuart had already informed Blackburne: My federation shares Your Excellency’s view that improved relations among all sections of the community are much to be desired, and that, so far from seeking the destruction of Trades Unionism Antigua, it is our desire to see the day when agreement can be made and kept between the Federation and the Union . . . and . . . we shall encourage our members at all times to abstain from any avoidable step which may tend to injure good relations.
In 1964 the ATLU’s first historian and earliest apologist was able to write: The period between 1951 to the present has been one of comparative industrial peace in the island. The settlement of the tenancy lands of the Syndicate Estates and the application of the roster system on the waterfront removed the basic causes of the former grievances and the way was made clear for free negotiations on specific industrial matters without extraneous matters being introduced.
Even if Blackburne may have been too hasty in sending for British troops, and in so doing had interrupted the Inquiry’s hearings, the results obtained from his appointment of the Board more than justified the rest of his handling of the situation which had arisen after May Day. The increased prestige he acquired as a result now helped smooth the way for the introduction of major constitutional reform.
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