MEDIA RELEASE

22 August, 2011

The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union mourns the passing of a heroine of the mass movement

The Oilfields Workers Trade Union mourns the passing of a true patriot, Sister Pat Bishop. She was a true exemplar as her passion and love for Trinidad and Tobago was undeniable and this was demonstrated every single day of her life through totally selfless service. There are very few citizens of this country who have given so much to so many. Pat Bishop’s involvement with the steelband movement, as a painter, as a composer of music and as the Musical Director of the Lydian Singers is legendary. Sister Bishop’s contribution to the intellectual development of Trinidad and Tobago was perhaps understated but is no less valuable and was inextricably linked to her being an artist.

However, Pat understood that art is not about abstraction, but deeply connected to the society from which it springs and that the role of the artist is to raise the consciousness so that the society better understands itself and is able to move forward to a better civilisation. It was this philosophical standpoint from which her commitment to working people was based and which led to Pat being a friend and comrade of the OWTU for more than two decades.

Sister Pat participated in and collaborated with the OWTU on many important initiatives. She believed in the capacity of the ordinary men and women and their ability to be in the leadership of building our society. This belief was daily buttressed through her appreciation of the creative imagination as manifest in our culture. For a number of years Pat Bishop had been developing her thesis about “work” in a very radical way through her knowledge of our cultural and historical experience.

Indeed, the theme of annual CLR James Memorial Lecture organised by the OWTU, which Ms. Bishop delivered in October 2009, was “What Work is and What Work is Not”. It was a seminal contribution to the role of work and of labour in the construction of a modern civilisation. This was the last of the very many collaborations between Pat and the OWTU. Ms. Bishop was:

• A member of the Organising Committee of the Caribbean Peoples’ International BookFair and Bookfair Festival, which event was an initiative of the OWTU. She delivered the Opening Address at the First Bookfair in 1987, the 50^th anniversary of the OWTU.
• A key member of the team that organised the funeral of national hero CLR James in 1989. The OWTU had been asked by CLR to be responsible for his last rites.
• A member of the team that organised the Memorial for cultural and political figure John La Rose who was up to the time of his death, the European representative of the OWTU.
• Played a major role and was a leading figure in the organising of the “Passing of the Torch”, the retirement function for President General of the Union, Errol K. McLeod in June, 2008 where she noted that the event represented an end of one era and the beginning of a new one.

Sister Bishop’s untimely passing is a true loss for the people of Trinidad and Tobago as she had a vision of transforming our society to one that is based on Social Justice and Equity, a vision that she shared with the movement and that was in harmony with ours. Whilst Pat’s extensive involvement in the arena of culture and art is recognised and acknowledged, her contributions to the movement as an activist are not well known. We owe her a debt of gratitude for all the guidance, ideas and creative input which she provided to the OWTU in such struggles as: the labour movement’s struggle against structural adjustment in the 1980’s and the People’s Democracy in 2009.

In October 2008, Sister Bishop donated three outstanding paintings depicting the Grenadian Revolution – its hope, its betrayal and its destruction – which she painted in the aftermath of the assassination of Maurice Bishop and which she felt strongly belonged in the halls of the OWTU. Pat also crafted a special “Labour Star”, the Logo of the OWTU and presented it to the Union as show of her confidence in the OWTU to carry on the struggle to achieve our vision of a different Trinidad and Tobago.

The OWTU expresses its extreme appreciation for her contribution to the Trade Union movement. We are, like so many in Trinidad and Tobago, deeply indebted to this remarkable woman. We salute her love and dedication to the ordinary working people of Trinidad and Tobago. The Central Executive, General Council and membership say – thank you Pat, fare thee well! And our deepest sympathy to Gillian, other members of the Bishop family, and to Pat’s friends and colleagues. 

The Union will be flying the OWTU flag at half mask out of respect for Sister Pat Bishop.

Ancel Roget

President General