Ottiwell Simmons

Ottiwell Askew Simmons (June 25, 1933 – June 16, 2023) was a labour leader and politician in Bermuda, known for his role as president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) from 1974 to 1996. He served from 1976 until 2007 as a Progressive Labour Party member of parliament for Pembroke East.

Early life Ottiwell Simmons, also known as Ottie, was born in 1933. He was one of seven children born to Olaf and Audrey Simmons, who raised him in North Village in Bermuda's Pembroke Parish.

As a boy, he was inspired after hearing Edgar F. Gordon, then the president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU), give a speech. He received further training in union organizing while abroad, becoming the BIU's first full-time organizer when he came home. He was also involved in the 1965 BELCO strike and in negotiations around the 1992 Labour Disputes Act. Simmons remained as president of the union until 1996. He collaborated closely with fellow MP Nelson Bascome, and worked to promote social reforms to benefit Bermuda's working class.

Later years, death and legacy In 2010, Simmons wrote Our Lady of Labour, about fellow politician and activist Barbara Ball.

The BIU's building, whose construction Simmons had directed in 1987, was renamed in his honor in 2019.

Simmons died in 2023, just shy of his 90th birthday. who was known for "greatly changing the island's sociopolitical landscape."