UCL Institute of the Americas Caribbean Seminar Series: Industrial Relations in the Caribbean

This talk will take the approach of presenting Industrial Relations as an attempt to technically reframe class struggle. It will look at Industrial Relations beyond the terminology and posit it as a dynamic theatre of class struggle. The themes that will be addressed will include an understanding of the Caribbean context with the rise of the mass movement and its confrontation with capital and colonialism; the political origins of the trade union movement in the English-speaking Caribbean; the post-independence/colonial settlements and antagonisms; the impact of the Grenada Revolution on Industrial relations; the contemporary industrial relations professionals and the radical trade union tradition in the Caribbean. Finally, I would give an overview of the current state of Industrial Relations in terms of the law and current struggles in the face of the ecological crisis and the failures of neoliberalism to deliver for Caribbean workers. I will then conclude with political options for a paradigm shift in Industrial Relations in the Caribbean.

Ozzi Warwick, is a leading trade unionist in Trinidad and Tobago. He is a founding member and General Secretary of the Movement for Social Justice, Secretary to the Joint Trade Union Movement and Chief Education and Research Officer of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU).

He currently holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of London as well as a Post Graduate Certificate in Human Rights Law and a Post Graduate Diploma in Economic Regulations.

Image: Ozzi Warwick