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Quintin O'Connor

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Quintin O'Connor
Occupation(s)Labor leader, politician, activist

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.

Union career

O'Connor, as a member of the Clerks' section of the Trinidad Labour Party (TLP), attempted on numerous occasions prior to the riots of 1937 to pass a motion permitting his union to register under the Trade Union Ordinance of 1933, but each and every motion was defeated. He was opposed within the party by TLP leader A.A. Cipriani, who, in addition to believing that the 1933 Ordinance did not provide sufficient protection to union organizers, preferred agitation for political reform within the colony's legislature to union activities, such as strikes and street protests. Following the riots, however, O'Connor led a group of clerks who broke from the TLP to form the Union of Shop Assistants and Clerks (USAC), which was officially registered on August 30, 1938.[1] In 1939, O'Connor and other leaders of the USAC, organized the mainly female workers at the Renown shirt factory and won for them a 12.5 percent wage increase, and an eight hour workday among other concessions.[2]

In 1940, O'Connor incorporated the USAC into the Federated Workers Trade Union (FWTU), which he took over with Albert Gomes. Though originally intent on exclusively organizing clerks, O'Connor and Gomes met with little success and decided to turn the FWTU into an omnibus union.[3] They regularly received advice from the British Trade Union Council (BTUC). When the United States established a naval base in the Chaguaramas area, they secretly organized the base workers and eventually won recognition as the bargaining agents for the base employees. They also organized many government workers. In 1946, on behalf of government workers, they signed the FWTU's first collective bargaining agreement. This agreement was historic because, for the first time in Trinidad's history, wage increases were linked to increases in the cost of living index. In addition, the agreement was a sign from the government to other employers that collective bargaining was to become a normal part of labour relations in Trinidad.[4]

In 1948, O’Connor became the secretary of the Trinidad and Tobago Trades Union Council (TTTUC), which briefly united the labour movement in Trinidad and Tobago and was able to enter into block agreements with employers. However, the TTTUC split up shortly after over the issue of international affiliation with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Political career and activism

During the 1930s and 40s, O'Connor associated with a small group of left-leaning Trinidadian writers and thinkers, including Alfred Mendes, Albert Gomes, CLR James, and Ralph De Boissiere among others.[5][6] In the 1940s, O'Connor joined New Dawn, a Marxist group dedicated to Trinidadian independence.[7] He also "godfathered" the Why Not Discussion Group, which regularly denounced British colonial policy and became a "focal point for dissent."[8] [9]

In 1942, O’Connor joined the West Indian National Party, which became a part of the United Front during the 1946 General Elections. During these elections, O’Connor campaigned on behalf of Gomes, who won a seat on the Legislative Council with over 65% of the vote. In the late 1940s, O’Connor broke with Gomes, who as a member of the Trinidad’s Executive Council abandoned his pro-union sympathies and left wing politics.[10][11]

In the elections of 1950, O’Connor ran for a seat in the Legislative Council under the banner of the TTTUC, but lost with just over 30% of the vote. In April 1951, he was one of the founding members of the West Indian Independence Party (WIIP). Because of its left-wing views, the WIIP was investigated by a British Commission led by Fred Dalley of the British TUC. The Commission claimed that WIIP was "communist inspired and directed" and put pressure on O’Connor and others to quit the party.[12] O’Connor refused to quit until he was ready to move on to other political endeavours. As a member of the Caribbean National Labour Party (CNLP), he contested a seat in Port of Spain North East, but lost with just under 9% of the vote.

O’Connor was also active on behalf of a number of social and political causes throughout his life. In 1941, he submitted a memorandum to the Franchise Committee in favour of universal adult suffrage.[13] In 1946, he spoke out against restrictions which banned panmen from playing their instruments in public places.[14] He also spoke out against the racism experienced by blacks who worked on the US Naval Base in Chaguaramas.[15] During the war, O’Connor successfully opposed the introduction of a Sedition Bill, which would have curtailed civil liberties for the duration of the war.[16]

In 1948, O'Connor sat on the Constitutional Reform Committee and signed the majority report, which reformed Trinidad and Tobago's political system without granting responsible government. However, at a Caribbean Labour Congress (CLC) conference, he later withdrew his signature and supported a resolution in favour of Patrick Solomon's minority report, which demanded immediate self-government.[17]

References

  1. ^ Pierre, Lennox (1959). Quintin O'Connor, A Labour Leader: A Personal Appreciation. Granderson Bros. p. 4.
  2. ^ Reddock, Rhoda (1990). "Women and Garment Production in Trinidad and Tobago, 1900 – 1960". Social and Economic Studies. 39 (1): 109. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Gomes, Albert (1974). Through a Maze of Colour. Port of Spain: Key Caribbean Publications Limited. p. 39.
  4. ^ Ramdin, Ron (1982). From Chattel Slave to Wage Earner: A History of Trade Unionism in Trinidad and Tobago. London: Martin Brian & O’Keefe Limited. p. 159.
  5. ^ Mendes, Alfred (2002). The Autobiography of Alfred H. Mendes, 1897–1991. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press. p. 132.
  6. ^ de Boissiere, Ralph (2000). ""The Rise of the Beacon Group: extract from Ralph ed Boissiere's (as yet unpublished) autobiography". Journal of West Indian Literature. 9 (2): 16.
  7. ^ La Guerre, John Gaffar (1983). The Politics of Communalism: The Agony of the Left in Trinidad and Tobago, 1930-1955. Pan Caribbean Publications. p. 35.
  8. ^ Reddock, Rhoda (1994). Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: A History. New Jersey: Zed Books. p. 294.
  9. ^ Pierre, Lennox (1959). Quintin O'Connor, Labour Leader: A Personal Appreciation. Granderson Bros. p. 12.
  10. ^ Gomes, Albert (1974). Through a Maze of Colour. Port of Spain: Key Caribbean Publications. p. 50.
  11. ^ MacDonald, Scott B (1986). Trinidad and Tobago: Democracy and Development in the Caribbean. New York: Praeger. p. 86.
  12. ^ Brereton, Bridget (1981). A History of Modern Trinidad, 1783-1962. Kingston: Heinemann. p. 229.
  13. ^ La Guerre, John Gaffar (1972). "The General Elections of 1946 in Trinidad and Tobago". Social and Economic Studies. 21 (2): 185. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Goddard, George (1991). Forty Years in the Steelbands, 1939-1979. London: Karia Press. p. 27. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Horne, Gerald (2007). Cold War in a Hot Zone: The United States Confronts Labor and Independence Struggles in the British West Indies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 51–52.
  16. ^ Pierre, Lennox (1959). Quintin O'Connor, Labour Leader: A Personal Appreciation. Granderson Bros. p. 16.
  17. ^ Hart, Richard (1982). Susan Craig (ed.). Contemporary Caribbean: A Sociological Reader (2 ed.). Maracas: College Press. p. 87.
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