Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

172 Trade Unionism TUBAL URIAH “BUZZ” BUTLER (1897-1977) B utler was Grenadian-born who became close to his hero Captain Cipriani from World War 1 and to the growing T&T oil industry in 1921 when he moved to Trinidad. In 1929, he was injured in an industrial accident on his job as a rig man/pipe fitter that left him with a permanent limp and no compensation. Becoming a preacher, known for his fiery style that sometimes rubbed people the wrong way, he began to champion in earnest those in situations like him, workers with grievances and adverse working conditions. He wholeheartedly embraced the labour movement and its cause, joining Cipriani’s Trinidad Labour Party. But he left his mentor in 1936 to fight more aggressively for his beliefs and workers’ rights. In 1935, he led a ‘hunger’ march from the oil belt of Fyzabad, Siparia and Point Fortin to Port-of-Spain, to highlight the workers’ demands. In 1936, he formed his own party, the British Empire Workers and Citizen Home Rule Party (BEW&CHRP) and in 1937 organised a sit down strike that proved to be a catalyst in the development of the labour movement. The demonstration was a peaceful one until the police tried to arrest Butler, sparking off a riot leading to carnage, including the death of policeman Charlie King after whom the junction is named in Fyzabad. He was tried, convicted of sedition and sentenced to two years in prison, fiercely defended by his comrade, lawyer and fellow labour leader Adrian Cola Rienzi. In 1939, he was made Chief Organiser of the OWTU but was soon expelled for his fiery and aggressive nature and stances. After organising another strike in 1941, Butler was again imprisoned from 1941-1945, since the government regarded his disruption of oil production as a threat to the War effort. In 1945, the same year as the death of his former mentor and leader Captain Andrew Cipriani, he was released and hailed as a hero of the working class. In 1946/7, he called a general strike, with some of his supporters storming the Red House. Even in his foray into