Overview

Welcome to the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union! Born out of the historic General Strike and anti-colonial revolt of June 1937 in Trinidad, the OWTU has a proud tradition of being the most important trade union in the Anglophone Caribbean. In the words of one of the region’s foremost historians:

“If this kind of social movement unionism continues to develop, I believe that the OWTU will inevitably have a major role to play. This is not only because it is historically our best organized and most powerful union. It is because in my view the OWTU has always contributed key intellectual capital to the causes it champions and the organizations it works with. It has always been committed to public education, informed debate, relevant research and the life of the mind (as well as the body!). Its contribution to the struggle for equity and social justice - a key 1937 agenda item – has been and will be as much intellectual as organizational or financial”

– Professor Bridget Brereton.

Vision

Continuing the tradition of the mass movement towards achieving a society with the power to determine its destiny on the basis of equity, social justice and a decent standard of living for all.

Mission

Conscious of our working class ideology, we advance our vanguard role in the movement by:

• Building solidarity;
• Improving/defending the quality of life of our members and working people as a whole;
• Giving voice the voiceless through organizing, educating and political action