AFTER 55 years in public service and trade unionism, former speaker of the House of Representatives Pearnel Charles Sr is to be invested with Jamaica’s fourth-highest national award — the Order of Jamaica (OJ) — in the latest National Honours and Awards listing.

Charles, who was born on August 31, 1936 in Macedonia, Brown’s Town, St Ann, retired from active politics last year and as speaker of the House after five decades of involvement with the trade union movement and the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

He served two terms as a councillor for Denham Town in the 1960s, followed by two terms in the Jamaican Senate in the 1970s and seven terms as a Member of Parliament (MP) for St Thomas Eastern (1980-1989) and Clarendon North Central (2002-2020).

Charles also served as deputy leader of the JLP from 1972-1991 and as a Cabinet minister between 1980 and 2012, including as minister of local government, minister of public utilities and transport, and as minister of labour and social security, before being appointed House Speaker in 2016.

He spent 41 years as a trade unionist, including as vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union.

A colourful and outspoken politician, he was detained in the 1976 state of emergency (SOE) during which he had to withdraw his candidacy for the St Andrew South Western seat. He was replaced by former Senator Joseph McPherson who lost to the then Portia Simpson, who eventually rose to become prime minister of the country and president of the People’s National Party.

Simpson, who is now Portia Simpson Miller, retired from active politics in 2017.

Charles has written several books about his political and trade union experiences, including Detained in 1977 about his year-long detention during the SOE; The Politics of Power in 1989; and A Cry from the Grassroots in 1999.

He told the Jamaica Observer that despite being imprisoned and detained, he has never felt daunted in his efforts to represent workers and ordinary Jamaicans.

“In serving the people you face criticisms and hardships, and I have been through some tough times, including imprisonment and detention. But, I never gave up working for the ordinary people despite these experiences,” he said.

“I have continued to focus on educating the young people and the most vulnerable, particularly while I was at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, because my job was to help them — whether through Parliament or the trade union,” he said, noting that he expects his son and MP for Clarendon South Eastern, Pearnel Charles Jr, and daughter Michelle, the MP for St Thomas Eastern, to carry on the job.