Nicholas Anthony Ignatius Pollard Sr. (March 22, 1924 - January 21, 2003) was a
Belizean
politician and
trade union leader.
He was born in 1924 in
Bacalar, Quintana Roo
Bacalar () is the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality (until 2011 a part of Othón P. Blanco Municipality) in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about north of Chetumal, at 18° 40' 37" N, 88° 23' 43" W. In the 2010 census ...
,
Mexico to Belizean parents, Stella Alberta Gill and Juanito Castro Pollard.
He was a founding member of the
People's United Party (PUP) in 1950. The same year, he was elected president of the General Workers Union. He made major contributions to the development of the trade union movement in Belize.
On September 29, 1956, Pollard and nationalist leader
George Cadle Price co-founded the ''
Belize Times
''The Belize Times'' is a Belizean newspaper published once a week and the official organ of the People's United Party (PUP). It was established in 1956 and sells for BZ$1
Its offices are located at the PUP's Belize City headquarters at 3 Queen S ...
,'' now one of the largest newspapers in Belize.
In 1958, Pollard broke away from the PUP and formed the
Christian Democratic Party of Belize (CDP). The CDP contested the 1961 elections, but the PUP won all 18 seats.
He served as Executive Secretary of the
English-speaking
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
region of the
Confederación Latino Americana de Sindicatos Cristianos (CLASC; also known in English as the Latin American Confederation of Christian Unionists) from 1961 to 1969. With the support of CLASC he founded the
National Federation of Christian Trade Unions
The Christian National Trade Union Federation ( nl, Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond, CNV) is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.
History
The CNV was founded on 13 May 1909, in Arnhem as a federation of several Christian unions. I ...
in Belize in 1962.
In the 1970s, Pollard left public life and worked in the private sector. He became an educator in the 1980s and 1990s.
He died in January 2003.
He was married to Elizabeth Hoffman-Pollard, and the couple had twelve children. The first child was
Nicholas Pollard, Jr. who became heavily involved in several national sports organizations.
References
*Francis, Michael J. "Revolutionary Labor in Latin America: The CLASC." ''Journal of Inter-American Studies.'' 10:4 (October 1968).
*Grant, Cedric H. ''The Making of Modern Belize: Politics, Society, and British Colonialism in Central America.'' London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
*Ysaguirre, William. "Trade Unions Honour Labour Leader Antonio Soberanis." ''Belize Reporter.'' July 14, 2006.
External links
Nicholas Pollard Sr. dedication site
1924 births
2003 deaths
Politicians from Quintana Roo
People's United Party politicians
Christian Democratic Party (Belize) politicians
{{Belize-politician-stub