Michael Manley, Equality and the Jamaican Labour Movement

Abstract

From his inauspicious start in 1952 when he became a part of the National Workers Union's (NWU) negotiating team for the Ariguanbo Mills' workers, Michael Manley remained deeply attached to the Jamaican labour movement. Twenty years of active trade unionism profoundly influenced his political thought and practices. As well his trade union experiences shaped his political communication skills, his style of political rhetoric and the political relationship between himself and ordinary Jamaicans. In the last months of his life he was involved with two labour orientated projects. Firstly, he attempted to reduce the union rivalry between the two major unions in the bauxite industry, the National Workers Union (NWU) and the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU). Secondly his last major public appearance was to chair a conference with the island's leading trade unionists and sections of the island's management elite group in an effort to develop modalities of Employee Share Ownership Schemes (ESOP) in Jamaican enterprises. Both projects mark continuities in the labour and political practices of Manley.

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