Oilfields Workers' Trade Union, Trinidad and Tobago (1937–)

Abstract

The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) is one of the oldest and most powerful labor organizations in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. Its origins lie in the formation of the United Workers Trading Association (UWTA) in 1936 when oil workers at Fyzabad, under the leadership of Elbert Redvers Blades, established a cooperative to seek redress against high food prices that plagued oil workers. Following the 1937 general strike and insurrection that engulfed the country, and with Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler on the run from British security forces, members of UWTA met at the home of Cecil Williams – located at Coon's Town, Forest Reserve, Fyzabad – on July 15, 1937 to formally launch the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union.