Carlyle Dunkley, a former government minister and trade unionist, has died.
Mr. Dunkley passed away on Tuesday night in hospital.
Carlyle Dunkley was a major figure in Jamaican politics and the trade union movement for more than four decades, starting when he joined the National Workers Union in 1963.
The past student of Kingston College graduated from the University of the West Indies in 1962 before joining the union the following year.
He was appointed Island Supervisor of the union in April 1972, succeeding Michael Manley who had just become Prime Minister.
He became President of the National Workers Union in 1977.
He also served as a Senator for the People’s National Party (PNP) and was appointed to the cabinet of Prime Minister Michael Manley in 1980 and again by Michael Manley and P.J. Patterson following the PNP’s return to office in 1989.
During those two periods in office he headed several ministries, including Public Utilities & Transport, Education, Mining, Industry & Commerce, and Tourism.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Opposition Leader Dr. Peter Phillips noted Mr. Dunkley’s contribution to the People’s National Party and the wider Jamaica.
Dr. Phillips said Mr. Dunkley was a leading member of Michael Manley’s negotiating team, which won landmark benefits for sugar workers in the historic 1959 agreement and for bauxite workers that year.
Dunkley’s last major public role was as Jamaica’s Ambassador to Cuba, a post from which he retired in 2001.