Trade Union Leader and 'Red Sky': 1950-1951
Eric Gairy returned to Grenada from Curacao in December, 1949 to enter trade unionism and politics. In 1950 he founded the Grenada Manual, Maritime & Intellectual Workers' Union (GMMIWU) and was deeply involved in encouraging the 1951 general strike for better working conditions, this sparked great unrest - so many buildings were set ablaze that the disturbances became known as the 'red sky' days - and the British authorities had to call in military reinforcements to help regain control of the situation. Gairy himself was taken into custody.
Read more about this topic: Eric Gairy
Famous quotes containing the words trade union, trade, union and/or leader:
“We are the trade union for pensioners and children, the trade union for the disabled and the sick ... the trade union for the nation as a whole.”
—Edward Heath (b. 1916)
“Whatever trade one is in, one will find some fault with it.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The union of hands and hearts.”
—Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)
“People ask the difference between a leader and a boss.... The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)