Antigua Trades and Labour Union | |
Founded | 16 January 1939 |
---|---|
Headquarters | St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda |
Location | |
Members | 7000 |
Key people | Bernard de Nully, president (since 26 September 2023) |
The Antigua Trades and Labour Union (ATLU) is the national trade union of Antigua and Barbuda. It was formed in 1939 and is closely related to the Antigua Labour Party. It has a membership of 7,000 and is led by Wigley George as president.
The organization, whose first president was Reginald Stevens, was first formally registered in 1940, after a new changed trade union law that was installed in December 1939. [1] Despite the increase of wages, the wage was initially not sufficient for the subsistence of the residences considering the inflation that was perceived by the residents, and strikes for higher wages continued in the 1940s. After the war, however, the union gained political success as they won a seat in the legislative council and the political committee. In 1967, the Antigua Workers' Union broke out from the group becoming a rival group, and the political parties Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ALP) and Progressive Labour Movement (PLM) was born from it. [1]
Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the Caribbean. It lies at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles.
The politics of Antigua and Barbuda takes place in a framework of a unitary parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, wherein the sovereign of Antigua and Barbuda is the head of state, appointing a governor-general to act as vice-regal representative in the nation. A prime minister is appointed by the governor-general as the head of government, and of a multi-party system; the prime minister advises the governor-general on the appointment of a Council of Ministers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Parliament. The bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The history of Antigua and Barbuda covers the period from the arrival of the Archaic peoples thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Antigua and Barbuda were inhabited by three successive Amerindian societies. The island was claimed by England, who settled the islands in 1632. Under English/British control, the islands witnessed an influx of both Britons and African slaves migrate to the island. In 1981, the islands were granted independence as the modern state of Antigua and Barbuda.
Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, KNH was the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. His son, Lester Bryant Bird, succeeded him as prime minister. In 1994, he was declared a "National Hero".
The Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) is a political party in Antigua and Barbuda. The current leader of the party is Gaston Browne, who serves as the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. The party had previously been led by Lester Bird, who was chairman of the party since 1971, and was Prime Minister and political leader in 1994.
Elections in Antigua and Barbuda take place in the framework of a parliamentary democracy.
The Progressive Labour Movement was a major centre-left political party in Antigua and Barbuda and, until the 2000s, was the only political party to have defeated the Antigua Labour Party in an election.
Antigua, also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 November 1981.
The Antigua Workers' Union (AWU) or (ABWU) is a national trade union centre of Antigua and Barbuda. It was formed in 1967 after a split from the ATLU. The AWU created the Progressive Labour Movement (UPP) in 1970.
The Antigua and Barbuda Public Service Association (ABPSA) is a national Trade union of Antigua and Barbuda. First recognized in the 1980s, the ABPSA is a small organization with competition from other unions in the public service sector.
Trade unions in Antigua and Barbuda have a significant presence in the workforce, representing approximately 75% of Antigua and Barbuda workers.
General elections were held in Antigua and Barbuda on 17 April 1984, the first after the country had become an independent Commonwealth realm in 1981.
A series of workplace disturbances, strikes, and riots broke out across the British West Indies in the period between 1934 and 1939. These began as the Great Depression wore on and ceased on the eve of World War II. The unrest served to highlight inequalities of wealth, led the British government to attempt a solution to the problem, and in some cases spurred the development of indigenous party politics that would lead to self-government and independence in the postwar period.
General elections were held in Antigua and Barbuda on 1 November 1956. The Antigua Labour Party retained all eight elected seats and the party's leader Vere Bird became Minister of Trade and Production after a ministerial system of government was established. Voter turnout was 57%.
The Antigua People's Party was a minor political party in Antigua and Barbuda. It began as a faction within the Progressive Labour Movement, an opposition party founded in 1968. This faction, called the Antigua Progressive Movement, believed that the state's political parties should be separate from the trade unions. In 1969, the faction left the PLM to campaign independently. It attracted few votes at the 1971 general election, and it soon folded into the Antigua Labour Party.
Vere Bird Jr. was an Antiguan lawyer and politician who served as chairman of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) and a government minister. He was the son of Vere Bird, the former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and brother of Lester Bird, who later held the same position.
Afro–Antiguans and Barbudans are Antiguans and Barbudans of entirely or predominantly African ancestry.
The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance of class conflict.
Millicent Percival was an Antiguan and Barbudan politician and former President of the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda. She served as President of the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda from 21 March 1994 to 26 February 2004. She was also a leading member within the women's groups of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union and the Antigua Labour Party. She was accorded an Official Funeral at the St. George's Anglican Church in Fitches Creek on 11 November 2016.
General elections were held in Antigua and Barbuda on 18 January 2023 to elect members of the House of Representatives. The Labour Party (ABLP) has held an absolute majority of 15 seats in the House of Representatives after the 2018 general election, with Gaston Browne remaining as prime minister. Browne initiated a constitutional referendum after the 2018 election, which was rejected by voters, and following the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, he announced his intention to organise a referendum for the transition of Antigua and Barbuda to a republican system. Besides ABLP, the United Progressive Party (UPP), Democratic National Alliance, Barbuda People's Movement (BPM), and three independent politicians filed candidacies for the 2023 general election.