[2] The decline of the mahogany trade, the Great Depression and the 1931 hurricane created terrible living conditions for the working class in British Honduras around 1934-35.
With his colleagues, he formed the Labor and Unemployed Association (LUA) which organized many boycotts, demonstrations and pickets against large merchants such as the B.E.C.
(Belize Estate and Produce Company), John Harley and Co., Hofius and Hilderbrant, Melhado and Sons, and Brodies.
He also traveled to Dangriga and Corozal Town to encourage support for the cause of higher wages outside Belize City.
When he made a speech in Corozal Town in October 1935 calling the large merchant stores "bloodsuckers" and the Governor and the King "crooks," he was arrested again.
[3] The efforts of the LUA yielded some good results: the wages of grapefruit dock workers in Dangriga were raised from 8 cents to 25 cents an hour;[3] more men were employed to work on the Northern Highway following the receipt of a BZ$250,000 grant;[citation needed] and partial representation was granted to the elected officers in the Legislative Council.
[citation needed] In addition, the LUA operated their own food program by organizing fundraising activities and collecting gifts from merchants and sympathizers who were not followers.