The organization, whose first president was Reginald Stevens, was first formally registered in 1940, after a new changed trade union law that was installed in December 1939.[1] Despite the increase of wages, the wage was initially not sufficient for the subsistence of the residences considering the inflation that was perceived by the residents, and strikes for higher wages continued in the 1940s. After the war, however, the union gained political success as they won a seat in the legislative council and the political committee. In 1967, the Antigua Workers' Union broke out from the group becoming a rival group, and the political parties Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ALP) and Progressive Labour Movement (PLM) was born from it.[1]
