The labour move­ment is mourn­ing the pass­ing of Clifton Simp­son, First Deputy Pres­i­dent Gen­er­al of the Na­tion­al Union of Gov­ern­ment and Fed­er­at­ed Work­ers (NUGFW), who died yes­ter­day at the Scar­bor­ough Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal in To­ba­go.

A long-serv­ing trade union­ist, Simp­son was wide­ly re­spect­ed for his steady lead­er­ship and his un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to im­prov­ing the work­ing con­di­tions of dai­ly- and month­ly-rat­ed gov­ern­ment em­ploy­ees.

Over decades in the labour strug­gle, he tire­less­ly ad­vo­cat­ed for bet­ter work­ing con­di­tions, so­cial pro­tec­tion, and fair col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing agree­ments. Union lit­er­a­ture fre­quent­ly high­light­ed his be­lief in “a strong labour move­ment as the back­bone of so­cial progress.”