The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago from 1957 till 1976. That party was the party which opposed the People's National Movement (PNM) at the time of Independence. After several splits brought about by leadership struggles, the party lost its hold on the Indo-Trinidadian community in the 1976 General Elections and was displaced in parliament by the United Labour Front under the leadership of Basdeo Panday, a former DLP senator. The party was the representative of the ethnic Indian community in the country; however Indian Muslims and Christians were said to be less loyal to the party than Indian Hindus.
Raffique Shah is a Trinidad and Tobago trade union leader and political commentator. He is also a former Member of Parliament and mutineer, having led a mutiny of Trinidad and Tobago Regiment in 1970.
Albert Maria Gomes was a Trinidadian unionist, politician, and writer of Portuguese descent, was the first Chief Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He was the founder of the Political Progress Groups and later led the Party of Political Progress Groups. He was active in the formation of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in Trinidad and Tobago and played a role in forcing Sir Alexander Bustamante out of the Federal Democratic Labour Party. Gomes briefly led DLP in 1963 when factions loyal to briefly ousted Rudranath Capildeo after Capildeo left Trinidad and Tobago to take up a position at the University of London. However, the rank and file of the party stood behind Capildeo, and Gomes left the party.
Social unrest has shaped the development of Trinidad and Tobago since the middle of the 19th century. Attempts by the British colonial government to crack down on the celebration of Carnival sparked the Canboulay Riots in 1881 and 1884. Attempts to control the celebration of Hosay by the Indian population culminated in the Hosay Riots in 1884. In the early 20th century, the Water riots culminated in the destruction of the Red House, the seat of government, by a mob of protestors.
The National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC) is a trade union federation in Trinidad and Tobago. It was created in 1991 by the merger of the Trinidad and Tobago Labour Congress (TTLC) and the Council of Progressive Trade Unions (CPTU). It has a membership of 100,000.
Nathaniel “Natty” Elliott Crichlow was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago, and educated at the Tunapuna Roman Catholic School. He was President of the National Union of Government Employees (NUGE) from 1957 and became the first President General of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) on the merger of the NUGE and the Federated Workers Trade Union in 1967. It was a position he held until his retirement in 1985.
In 1957 the National Union of Government Employees (NUGE), a former trade union in Trinidad and Tobago, was formed as a result of a merger between the Industrial and Railway Employees Trade Union, the Government Farm and Nursery Workers Trade Union and the Works and Hydraulics Industrial Workers Union. Later that same year, the Communication Services and General Workers Trade Union transferred its daily paid members to the NUGE and were followed in 1959 by the Public Works and Public Service Workers Trade Union.
The Federated Workers Trade Union (FWTU) was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that was formed in 1935. It was registered in 1937 and became the recognised union for some workers in the private sector but also those in the Public Works Department and the Trinidad Government Railways.
The Industrial and Railway Employees Trade Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged in 1957 with the Government Farm and Nursery Workers Trade Union and the Works and Hydraulics Industrial Workers Union to form the National Union of Government Employees
The Government Farm and Nursery Workers Trade Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged in 1957 with the Industrial and Railway Employees Trade Union and the Works and Hydraulics Industrial Workers Union to form the National Union of Government Employees
The Works and Hydraulics Industrial Workers Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged in 1957 with the Government Farm and Nursery Workers Trade Union and the Industrial and Railway Employees Trade Union to form the National Union of Government Employees
The Communication Services and General Workers Trade Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that transferred its daily paid members to the National Union of Government Employees in 1959. The Union no longer exists.
The Public Works and Public Service Workers Trade Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged with the National Union of Government Employees in 1959.
The Amalgamated Engineering and General Workers' Trade Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged in 1959 with the Federated Workers Trade Union.
The British Colonial Taxpayers and All Workers Union was a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago that merged in 1959 with the Federated Workers Trade Union.
Clotil Walcott was a trade unionist in Trinidad and Tobago.
Quintin O'Connor was a union leader, activist, and politician in colonial Trinidad and Tobago from the 1930s to the late 1950s. He played an essential role in the institutionalization of unionism in Trinidad and was an early proponent of Trinidadian independence.
Elma Francois was an Africentric Socialist political activist who, on 14 October 1987, was declared as a "national heroine of Trinidad and Tobago". She had been described as one of the "vociferous Africentric activists" in the history of Trinidad and Tobago and in the Caribbean region. She was known for her pro-trade union, anti-war and anti-colonial work.
Roodal Moonilal was the Minister of Housing and Urban Development of Trinidad and Tobago and the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2015.
