KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former Prime Minister P J Patterson is to deliver the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute’s inaugural distinguished lecture, which will focus on the ‘History and Development of the Modern Trade Union Movement: Lessons from the Past, Prospects for the Future’, the Jamaica Gleaner reported on May 20.
The distinguished lecture series is being launched by the institute to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the labour uprising in 1938, which ushered in the birth of the modern trade union movement.
Head of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute, Danny Roberts, said Patterson’s lecture will set about to identify some of the key lessons in the early years of the formation of the trade union movement.
Roberts said the lecture will also critically assess how they have informed post-Independence development, particularly during Patterson’s years in government.
He said the former prime minister will offer some insights into the changes necessary for the current legislative framework to create a fair and balanced employment relationship that can facilitate efficiency, equity and productivity improvements.
Patterson, who served as a minister of Government under Michael Manley in the 1970s, and as prime minister from 1992 to 2016, is credited with passing of a number of labour legislations during the PNP’s reign between 1972 and 1980.
