The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was a

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gen ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

. The union was established in 1956 by Nicholas Pollard, as a split from the General Workers' Union. Pollard had been accused of misusing funds donated by the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Founded in 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (commonly referred to as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, BSCP) was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation o ...

, intended to support victims of

Hurricane Janet Hurricane Janet was the most powerful tropical cyclone of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Janet was also the first named storm to cause 1,000 deaths and the first Category 5 storm name ...

. The new union worked closely with the

People's United Party The People's United Party (, PUP) is one of two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the governing party of Belize after success in the 2025 Belizean general election, winning a majority of 26 seats out of 31 in the Belizean Hou ...

(PUP), as the GWU had previously done. Pollard became general secretary of the new union, with Albert Cartouse as president, Lucas Marin as vice president, Leonard Jones as assistant secretary, and Louis Sylvestre as recording secretary. The CDU was less influential in the PUP than the GWU had been, and it was only permitted to nominate two party candidates for the

1957 British Honduras general election General elections were held in British Honduras on 20 March 1957. The ruling People's United Party won all nine seats contested.

. Pollard resigned from the PUP later in the year, and was replaced by Norman Lainfiesto as general secretary. Lainfiesto had no trade union background, and was expected to be loyal to the PUP, but unexpectedly decided to pursue an independent course. This was not successful, and the union was moribund by the early 1960s.

References

General unions Trade unions established in 1956 Trade unions in Belize {{trade-union-stub