The funeral of Ottiwell Simmons, a luminary of Bermuda’s trade union movement, will be held on Sunday on what would have been the former Bermuda Industrial Union president’s 90th birthday.

Chris Furbert, the BIU president, said that a viewing will be held in the foyer of the union headquarters named in Mr Simmons’s honour from 1pm to 2.50pm, before the 3pm funeral service at St Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hamilton.

Flanked by the BIU executive, Mr Furbert said: “We are really hurting right now as an organisation because we have lost a giant of a trade unionist.”

He paid tribute to the former Progressive Labour Party MP for Pembroke East and leader of the BIU, who died on Friday, saying that the possibility of Mr Simmons being made a National Hero was a decision to be left for “the powers that be”.

His face will join those of other labour leaders on the outer walls of the BIU headquarters.

Mr Simmons, the president of the BIU from 1974 to 1996, was instrumental in shaping every aspect of the modern union with the exception of the BIU petrol station on Dundonald Street.

His fight for workers’ rights and social justice was felt “not just in Bermuda but around the world”, Mr Furbert said.

“You look at what has been won for us by our forefathers, and we are the current caretakers maintaining what has been done for us.”

He added: “When you look at what he has contributed to the social wellbeing of people in this country, it’s immeasurable.”

Mr Furbert highlighted Mr Simmons’s leadership through the historic General Strike of 1981, which he said caught the attention of “our sister unions throughout the Caribbean”.

“How did Bermuda, a small country, end up shutting down and we had no major riots, nothing? Look at how controlled it was.”

Comparing Mr Simmons’s tenure with trade union icons such as E.F. Gordon, Mr Furbert said: “When you think about the outstanding leadership Brother Ottie provided and the timing of his leadership, it was perfect timing.

“He came along at the right time and his approach was to make sure that fairness has always to be at the front of us. He built our organisation around that.”

Mr Furbert commended broadcaster Rick Richardson’s one-hour documentary on the strike, Victory, which he said he hoped would be screened in the island’s schools.

Ronaldine Burgess, the BIU general secretary, said: “His battle started way before he came to the union.”

She recalled how a young Mr Simmons stood up to management over racial discrimination as a waiter at the Coral Island Club — and ended up risking his job as the only worker to come forward.

Ms Burgess added that Mr Simmons had written a draft of his autobiography, entitled Gate Boy in a nod to his upbringing in the Government Gate neighbourhood.

She said she hoped to see his story completed and published.

A ceremony honouring Mr Simmons is to be held at Victor Scott Primary School in Pembroke on Saturday, with a viewing from 6pm to 7.30pm, followed by an hour of tributes.