The Trade Union Congress is a general trade union in Jamaica. Initially organised as a trade union council to be the labour wing of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

(PNP) in 1943, the organisation split in 1952 with the formation of the National Workers Union (which maintained alignment with the PNP). The TUC was a founding member of the

Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) is a national trade union center in Jamaica. It is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation. Origins The JCTU emerged from the ''Joint Trade Unions Research Development Centre'' ( ...

Origins

The Trade Union Congress came into existence as a result of shifts in politics in Jamaica in the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1943 differences between the

Bustamante Industrial Trade Union The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU, also referred to as the Busta Union) is a trade union center in Jamaica established by Sir Alexander Bustamante. The BITU was formed in 1938 and built up a membership of 54,000 within 6 years. It is a ...

(BITU) and

(PNP) led to the formation of the ''Trade Union Council'' which grouped 16 small unions together in alignment to the PNP, in contrast to BITU which was responsible for the foundation of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

in that year. In 1946 the TUC was reorganised as the ''Trade Union Congress'' and in 1948 14 of the member unions were merged into a single union under the same name, with two unions remaining separate but affiliated.

References

Trade unions in Jamaica Trade unions established in 1943 {{Caribbean-trade-union-stub