Trade union movement in Jamaica

Bustamante Industrial Trade Union: 1938 became the watershed for the emergence of unions led by a group of charismatic labour leaders, the foremost of whom was le!ander Bustamante" In #ay 1938, Bustamante spent a short period in custody for leading rioting crowds through $ingston" fter his release, Bustamante formed fi%e labour unions with himself as head of each" The union represented #aritime &or'ers, Transport (abour, )actory &or'ers, #unicipal *mployees and +eneral (abour" &ith the basic structure for his union in place Bustamante focused on recruiting members and organi,ing sections" few months after the formation of the fi%e unions, Bustamante ga%e up the idea of a group of unions because of organi,ational difficulties and instead merged them into a single all-inclusi%e labour organi,ation, named after himself and ha%ing him as president for life" In .anuary 1939 the BITU was registered under the Trade Union law and two wee's later Bustamante called an all-island stri'e to protest against busting practices of employers" lthough this first all-island stri'e was unsuccessful, the union e!perienced significant growth o%er the few years of its e!perience largely due to the charisma of Bustamante and his ability to gain significant benefits for the wor'ers he represented" /uring 1901, Bustamante was arrested for an inflammatory speech in which he threatened widespread stri'e action" )or the 12 months that he was in custody, the management of the union was in the hands of his cousin 3orman #anley along with many of #anley4s organi,ers from the 535, such as 3oel 3ethersole and )lori,el +lasspole" The union flourished while Bustamante was in 6ail and membership more than doubled o%er the period" )ollowing his release in )ebruary of 1907, Bustamante bro'e off relations with #anley and the 535 officers and accused them of conspiring to e!tend his detention" nnouncements that a new and more liberal constitution was going to be introduced, which would allow for greater le%els of self rule, moti%ate Bustamante to follow the e!ample the #anley had set earlier and used members of the BITU as a base for a political party" In the latter part of 1903 Bustamante announced his intention to form the .amaica (abour 5arty 8.(59" The membership of the BITU were used to form the initial membership of the party" Bustamante4s success in negotiating substantial gains for large groups for wor'ers fueled further support for the .(5" &hen elections were held in /ecember 1900 the .(5 won with a land-slide %ictory, pa%ing the way for Bustamante to lead the go%ernment"