For­mer pres­i­dent of the Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) Wat­son Duke has praised to­day’s trade union lead­ers for keep­ing the labour move­ment alive and giv­ing work­ers re­newed hope.

In a video trib­ute post­ed to his so­cial me­dia yes­ter­day, to mark Labour Day, Duke said the cur­rent gen­er­a­tion of union lead­ers—both vet­er­an and new—have pushed labour “in­to a place where it is dream­ing again.”

“I will al­so tip my hat to the present crop of trade union­ists, some from way back, and some which are quite new. You have brought the labour in­to a place where it is dream­ing again, why it is hop­ing again” Duke said.

He al­so paid trib­ute to past icons of the move­ment, in­clud­ing Tubal Uri­ah “Buzz” But­ler, Adri­an Rien­zi, George Weekes, and Bas­deo Pan­day.

Duke, who led the PSA for over a decade, said while it’s im­por­tant to ho­n­our his­to­ry, the fo­cus must al­so re­main on those car­ry­ing the strug­gle for­ward to­day.