Clement Payne

Clement Payne

Clement Osbourne Payne was a Trinidadian pioneer in the Caribbean trade union movement. By an act of Parliament in 1998, Payne was named as one of the ten National Heroes of Barbados.

In 1937, Payne led black Barbadians to resist the white planter class. He organized several public meetings and aroused the ire of the police and government. Payne was expelled from Barbados in July of that year on the basis that he had lied to enter the country. Payne was under the impression that he was a Barbadian citizen, but did not know that he was born in Trinidad to Barbadian parents. Authorities secreted Payne onto a boat in the early morning to Trinidad. After Payne was deported, four days of rioting ensued. This led to a Commission of Inquiry (The Moyne Commission) to investigate the situation in Barbados and other British West Indies colonies. The Moyne Commission determined that all of his charges against the island's rulers were accurate. In its report, it insisted on reforms which Payne had proposed, including the introduction of trade union legislation.