Fellow citizens,

On Labour Day 2026, we honour the struggles, sacrifices and achievements of the men and women whose courage helped to shape the labour movement in Trinidad and Tobago. We remember those who, in the face of exploitation, hardship and injustice, stood for the dignity of work and the worth of every worker, particularly during the watershed events of 1937 that transformed labour relations in our nation.

Among those whose names remain firmly written in our national story are Uriah “Buzz” Butler, Adrian Cola Rienzi, Andrew Arthur Cipriani and Albert Maria Gomes. Through leadership, advocacy and personal sacrifice, they helped to widen the circle of fairness. Their work secured more than improved conditions; it taught our society that no person’s value should depend on rank, race, religion, address, accent or office.

The gains won by labour, now belong to the entire Republic. They live in our laws, in our institutions and, most of all, in the respect we owe one another. But those gains do not preserve themselves. They are weakened whenever public language attempts to sort citizens by ancestry, whenever disagreement groups citizens into opposing camps, and whenever persons face suspicion or intimidation in the honest performance of their duty.

Labour Day therefore calls us not only to be grateful, but also to be vigilant. It asks us to remember that the dignity of work, and the dignity of citizenship, stand together. A nation cannot honour its workers on one day, and accept conduct on another that makes any workplace unsafe, any community feel diminished, or any servant of the public feel exposed and unprotected.

The choice before us is not to be either silent or belligerent. It is to choose to disagree, while remaining disciplined; to differ, without intentionally wounding; to answer the call to duty, rather than to surrender to indifference; and to choose service, rather than contempt.

On this Labour Day, I invite the labour movement, employers, public institutions and citizens alike to renew a simple national commitment: every citizen must be made to feel included; every workplace must be made and kept safe; and every worker must be treated with fairness.

To honour labour is to protect the ground on which labour stands. We honour the pioneers of the movement not by recalling their names alone, but by defending the dignity they claimed for all. When any group or community is diminished, the entire Republic loses stature. When any worker is made unsafe, every worker’s protection becomes less secure. When any of us is pitted against the other, the entire country suffers. These are not the fruits of the struggles of our labour pioneers. These are their very undoing.

I extend best wishes to the entire national community for a safe, blessed and purposeful Labour Day. May God bless Trinidad and Tobago, and may the prayers, hopes and good works of all our people draw us closer to one another.