“Hugh Lawson Shearer (1923 – 2004) - Trade Unionist, Prime Minister, A Man of the People” is the caption of an exhibition mounted in the Catalogue Hall of the Main Library. It was first mounted on February 28, 2006, by the Library at the Trade Union Education Institute, on behalf of the UWI School of Continuing Studies. The occasion was the renaming of the Trade Union Education Institute to the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute in honour of this outstanding union leader.
The display highlights outstanding achievements of The Most Honourable Hugh Lawson Shearer as a trade unionist. These include the unionization of white-collar workers and the negotiation of the first agreement for paid maternity leave with the Sugar Manufacturers Association. Notable accomplishments in education, infrastructure, transport, agriculture, mining and tourism among others, during his prime ministerial years, are also documented. His contributions, during his retirement from active politics, include service to the nation’s senior citizens and the establishment of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions of which he became the first president and these are also featured.
Finally, the Exhibition acknowledges recognition conferred on The Most Honourable Hugh Lawson Shearer- Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa by Howard University, Washington, D.C. and the University of the West Indies in 1968 and 1994 respectively; the Order of Jamaica in 1990, and the country’s highest recognition, the Order of the Nation in 2002. The exhibition will run until March 30, 2006.