A documentary about the 1981 General Strike will be shown on Sunday for the first time in three years.

The hour-long film, Victory, will be screened at Devonshire Recreation Club to mark 45 years since the biggest labour dispute in Bermuda’s history.

The strike began when hundreds of government and hotel employees walked off their jobs in April 1981.

It ended on May 7 that year, when Bermuda Industrial Union employees received an average wage increase of 20 per cent after negotiations with the United Bermuda Party government.

Several people gathered at Victoria Park yesterday to reflect on the occasion and discuss the documentary, which premiered at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute in 2023.

Rick Richardson, the producer of the documentary, said: “When the masses left the [Union] square, there was a march around town that ended at Devonshire Recreation Club.”

He believes the documentary shows what could be done through “collaboration, solidarity and nonviolence”.

Glenn Fubler, of Imagine Bermuda, highlighted the importance of knowing Bermuda’s history.

He said: “The purpose of this screening is not just to look back, but to look back and draw from the past and leverage that past for today.”

Mr Fubler added: “Getting engaged in the community means to learn about how you got here and how you’re moving forward.

“The challenges that we’re going through worldwide right now are even greater than those from the past, so this helps people understand that there are ways through challenge.”

Nekesha Holdipp, social studies education officer with the Department of Education, hopes the film shows young people the importance of activism and trade unions.

She said: “I hope they understand, when they are employed, that this is an added role that they can take on to ensure that rights of workers, as well as the wider community, are respected and preserved.”

Victor Fishington reflected on how several members of the BIU telephone workers division took part in the strike despite being considered an essential service.

He said: “I delivered a letter informing them that we will be participating, but will provide services in certain areas.

“We never left the company completely flat; we maintained switches in Paget, Hamilton and other parts of the island.”

Tributes were also paid to the late reverends Wilbur “Larry” Lowe and Canon Thomas Nisbett Sr, who co-chaired the Striker’s Family Support Committee.

The Reverend Leonard Santucci, representing the AME Church in Bermuda, said: “Reverend Lowe would have been one of the key stakeholders the community would have looked to for guidance and leadership, because you’re dealing with human interaction and people normally follow people they trust.

“He always held positions of trust, which made him a beacon in the community at large.”

The Reverend Wendell Dill, from St Monica’s Anglican Church, said Canon Nisbett “respected everybody but stood up for what he had to do”.

He added: “Any time they wanted somebody to keep the quiet and calm you down, Canon Nisbett was always the one asked to do that.”

The free screening of Victory is set to begin at 6pm.