The Trade Union Education Institute and Rex Nettleford's Philosophical Orientation

Abstract

Introductionthe purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that the Trade Union Education Institute (TUEI), to which Rex Nettleford was attached as the founding and only director for several decades, served as the institutional vehicle or two-way process which helped to shape his philosophical orientation but which, in turn, could be used by him to reflect his own evolving and maturing philosophical perspectives. However, this is not a research paper but rather a personal account, or memoir, of how shared academic and professional interests led sometimes to an intertwining, sometimes to an overlapping, of our respective lives and careers, and helped both Rex and to make the best of the opportunities which came our way to fulfil our manifest destinies. These many years of collaboration and personal interaction enable me to provide the historical background to, as well as the facts of my involvement in, some of the milestones in Rex's career - milestones which have resulted in his being deservedly acclaimed a Jamaican and Caribbean of great distinction. will focus on the following: firstly, the establishment of the TUEI during the period 1961-64; secondly, the writing and publication oi Nettleford's Norman Washington Manley and the New Jamaica during the years 1969-71; and thirdly, the bestowal on Rex in 1975 of the Order of Merit - the highest national order that can bestowed on a civilian.Background to the establishment of the TUEII became acquainted with Rex Nettleford in 1959. He had only recently returned to Jamaica from the University of Oxford where, as a graduate of the University College of the West Indies (UC Wl) and a Rhodes scholar, he had pursued and obtained the BPhil. He was offered, and accepted, an appointment as staff tutor of political education for the Eastern Caribbean in the UCWI 's Extra Mural Department.During 1959, 1 was on an extended stay in Jamaica doing research and conducting interviews relating to my doctoral dissertation, The Development of Trade Unionism in Jamaica from the Perspective of the Role of Trade Unions in Less Developed Countries. Incidentally, the most enlightening of the interviews conducted during 1959 was the one had with Premier Norman Manley. When my wife and arrived at his East Race Course office at 4:00 p.m., we were seated across from him at his desk, and once we had settled in, he said to my wife and scribe, Are we ready? Then he turned to me: I have set aside three hours for you because we can hardly talk about the development of trade unionism in Jamaica without talking about the development of political parties and of our political system. will go slowly so that you can take down all that am going to tell you as it is important that you get all the historical facts straight. In this account will endeavour to do the same - to get the historical facts straight.My research indicated that the UCWI had done very valuable work in industrial relations since the mid-1950s when a staff tutor was appointed with responsibility for promoting education programmes throughout the Caribbean and resident tutors were appointed to undertake training courses at the national or unit level. A further step in labour education was taken in 1959 when a labour education conference was held at the UCWI to consider the report of a labour education survey which recommended that a Caribbean Labour Education Advisory Council be established as a well as advisory committees at the unit level to work with the UCWTs Extra Mural Department.It was in this context that as a visiting research scholar met and exchanged views with Rex Nettleford in areas of shared interest. was curious to know why a Rhodes scholar with a BPhil from Oxford University would choose to launch his academic career in the adult education and non-degree-granting Extra Mural Department, but he explained that he had been induced so to do by Philip Sherlock, one of the founding fathers of the UCWI and Director of the Extra Mural Department since 1948. …