SIR FRANK WALCOTT EXTRA-ORDINARY VISIONARY
The Right Excellent Sir Frank Walcott became the doyen of regional trade union leaders. He understood what it meant to stand in the vanguard of labour relations. His was a task marked with an understanding that in order for the country to grow and develop that the rights of the workers had to be paramount. He saw decent work, the eradication of poverty, the respect of workers contribution to the increase in capital and the education of workers to the realization of these goals as important issues for the nation to confront and achieve. It is therefore no passing fancy that he has been recognized by the Barbados Workers Union, The Hugh Shearer School for Labour Studies and the University of the West Indies Cave Hill in their most recent symposium.
Sir Frank touched the lives of all Barbadians and the peoples of the region in a very determined and visionary way. His exploits in the international Trade Union Movement and the International Labour Organisation is still talked about today. Were he alive he would have been ninety one years old.
Sir Frank Walcott was a political unionist. He recognized that the struggle for workers rights could not be achieved separate from the struggle for political rights and freedoms, and therefore he was not abashed in associating with the political organization of his era. He was an ardent member of the Democratic Labour Party and represented the people of Barbados in the House of Assembly and later the senate as its president.
It was not by chance that Sir Frank found himself as a member of the Democratic Labour Party. He shared the same ideals of The Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow and the Democratic Labour Party. He knew that the workers, the poor, the marginalized, the downtrodden, the youth, women, were all seen by the Democratic Labour Party as deserving of social justice and that his voice would resonate with the leaders and members of the party in establishing a policy agenda, which would ameliorate many of the harsh conditions under, which citizens of Barbados lived and worked.
Sir Frank Walcott, the Barbados Workers Union, The Rt. Excellent Errol Walton Barrow and the Democratic Labour Party blazed the trail in putting in to law and practice many of the liberating legislation and policies for which Barbados is renowned. The National Insurance Scheme, Maternity leave with pay, a five day working week for agricultural workers, the Sugar Cane workers provident fund among many others can be traced to that association.
Sir Frank Walcott had vision. He left a legacy for which the Barbados Workers Union, The workers, the Democratic Labour Party and Barbados can be justifiably proud. He never shirked his responsibility. Workers drew confidence from his words and his actions. He understood the value of education, both general public education and the education of the workers within the trade union organization. He never resigned from a struggle as long as he knew the principles on which he fought were fair and just. He fought in the streets and the House of Assembly, always conscious that he was a labour union leader. His principles were not compromised.
The Democratic Labour Party was blessed to have Sir Frank Walcott in its midst and the Barbados Workers Union as a partner in the development of the workers agenda and Barbados as a whole. The Democratic Labour Party continues to see such partnerships as important for the further development of Barbados and looks forward to continue its association with the trade union movement of Barbados. Long Live Workers and workers Rights. All respect To Sir Frank.
3 Comments
September 23, 2007 at 8:48 pm
DLP,
One Town Hall meeting ……over 3 weeks ago is fine……but the break between that one and the next is getting too long !
Get up & get out there and keep the message in the ears of Barbadians !
Awake from your slumber !
September 25, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Barbados was lucky to have had sons, like Sir Frank Walcott and the Rt. Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, who planted their feet firmly on this precious soil of ours, and exhorted us, giving hope to those who were overburdened with the injustices they saw.
The mantle has now been passed to those whose “duty” it is to guide us once again.
To every great leader of his people, there was always a time when his ability was not known, and untested. To our sons and daughters, who will be entrusted with the greatest responsibility one can have, to be elected to lead one’s country. Take up the mantle ever so lightly, but grip it firmly, be bold in your actions, and honest to yourself, for when you walk in that chosen valley, a privilege accorded to only a few, you will be walking in a path trodden by giants, but be humble only for a second, you will be the chosen ones.
The people will not throw rose petals at your feet, but there will be rejoicing in their hearts, quietly in the chattel houses, in the offices, down every lane and track they will be rejoicing, for the people’s time will have arrived.
For those new to the fray, and whose first steps might be tentative. Think of building a nation, think of the coalesceance of a people, think of a better tomorrow, think of freedom and justice, think of yourselves, only in what you can do for your country.
I know you will not fail us, turn your faces into the wind and taste its intoxicating freshness, the exhilaration of victory, wait only for the breaking of a new dawn.
Unity is everything.
September 26, 2007 at 7:11 am
What Yardbroom said about Errol Barrow and Frank Walcott was very true. They were, in fact, both Statesmen. I have a strong feeling that David Thompson will be such a Statesman. I watched him from the time he was a youngster, a little older than me, on the CBC TV program UNDERSTANDING and I applauded when he catspraddle Linton. But Thompy still has to develop that special gift of being able to embrace EVERYBODY – the young, the old, the black, the white, the in-between. I think if he is in white company he is always looking back to see if his black friends/supporters see him chatting up white people! Maybe he feels the white vote don’t count. I admire him for not gobbling up the crumbs that COW or David Seale might throw at him, but not all the whites are like those two and others like them. A lot of genuine white people admire Thompy, so I think he should do like Errol Barrow did and embrace everybody, but don’t kowtow to them.