Tribute to Jamaican workers

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Following is a tribute in commemoration of Labour Day and Workers’ Week.

The year indeed was ‘38, the month in fact was May,

When thousands of workers rose in protests, demanding better pay,

They came from the sweltering sugar belts, the ports, and Kingston’s street,

In militant and defiant mood, to lay down a historic feat.

For the black masses of the land, long endured the wake of despair,

And so demanded its Self-Rule with a better sense of care.

Towering giants came to the fore, whose names we know quite well,

To lead the charge of the working class, and condemn the oppressors to hell,

For Busta, Manley, St William Grant, and the unsung heroes of the past,

Have paved the way for workers to be granted their freedom at last,

And so we celebrate this week a rebellion that triumphantly brought to fame,

Trade unions in defence of the workers that would often bear its name.

The long and arduous battle of labour symbolised now in a Confed,

Must surely guarantee to workers that their rights are anything but dead.

And so it’s time for the workers’ struggle to embrace the reparations cause,

To signal to the Colonial oppressors that justice will never pause.

And so it is in 2020, we join across the land,

The vision of a new Jamaica with management and workers at hand.

DANNY ROBERTS