Political ties test labour’s collective voice

Through­out the his­to­ry of Trinidad and To­ba­go, sev­er­al trade union­ists have risen to en­joy the ben­e­fits of po­lit­i­cal pow­er—hold­ing some of the coun­try’s high­est of­fices, in­clud­ing Prime Min­is­ter—while work­ers ac­cused them of bro­ken promis­es and what some called a di­vid­ed trade union move­ment.

Checks by Guardian Me­dia showed at least 18 trade union­ists have crossed over in­to pol­i­tics.

That his­to­ry is now be­ing test­ed again. Six­teen months af­ter sev­er­al trade unions helped the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress se­cure an elec­tion win, labour lead­ers are split on whether po­lit­i­cal ties brought work­ers re­sults or cost unions their col­lec­tive voice.