Sir Randol Fawkes and The Bahamas Federation of Labour, 1958
The Story of Randol Fawkes Labour Day
Labour Day to be Named in Sir Randol’s Honour
Taneka Thompson - Guardian Senior Reporter
The Nassau Guardian, Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Parliamentarians yesterday paid tribute to Sir Randol Fawkes during a debate on a bill to rename Labour Day in honour of the late trade unionist and politician.
Minister of Labour and National Insurance, Shane Gibson, said he was honoured to lead the debate in memory of Sir Randol. “The award of this singular distinction on this outstanding pioneer in the trade union movement is not only deserving but most fitting because it comes at a time when we are about to celebrate forty years of Independence in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, fifty-one years after the first official Labour Day was celebrated and seventy-one years after the Riot of Burma Road,” he said.
In 1961, Sir Randol moved a bill in the House of Assembly that established the Labour Day holiday.
“He was the first representative to raise the question of Independence for The Bahamas on the floor of the House of Assembly,” Gibson added. “In September 1966, he pleaded the case before the United Nations, urging its assistance for the Bahamian people in their stride toward self-determination.”
Gibson said in light of the honour bestowed on Sir Randol, it is also fitting to declare the House of Labour on Wulff Road a historic site.
Opposition leader, Dr. Hubert Minnis, noted that Sir Randol was one of the “key cogs” who contributed to Majority Rule. He said renaming Labour Day after Sir Randol would be a fitting, yearly tribute to a man who fought for justice and safety for workers.
However, Minnis suggested the Progressive Liberal Party (P.L.P.) victimized Sir Randol after he helped the party secure the government in 1967. I would like to apologize for the pain and suffering that the Fawkes family has suffered and I urge the Government to do the same.”
North Eleuthera M.P. Theo Neilly expressed similar sentiments. Prime Minister Perry Christie chastised Minnis and Neilly for using yesterday’s debate to throw political blows and take the focus off Sir Randol’s achievements. “The opposition has clearly determined that this is too significant of an occasion not to integrate politics into their remarks,” Christie said.
Parliament Renames Labour Day to Randol Fawkes Labour Day
Labour Day March of 1958
“Over 2,000 years ago, a young Reformer walked this earth. He did not sup at the groaning tables of the high and mighty. He did not seek the friendship of those on the North side of the Hill but moved among the poor people on the South side. And he preached a new doctrine that said, 'the truth shall make you free and that you should do good to those who spitefully use you.”
“And they had their political parties in those days too; there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they, even the apostles, talked about the Kingdom that is to be, just as we talk about the new Bahamian working together for the establishment of the new Bahamas. And only a strong Labour Movement can accomplish the new Bahamas.”
— Sir Randol Fawkes