In 1947 it led a strike of sawmill workers at the Belize Estate and Produce Company, which succeeded in obtaining pay increases.
That year, its president, Clifford Betson, gave a speech in favour of socialism, to which the Billboard objected.
That year, Nicholas Pollard defeated Betson as president of the union, and its leadership gradually became shared with that of the People's United Party (PUP).
However, it maintained its links with the party, and for the 1954 British Honduras general election, it selected the PUP's five candidates for seats outside Belize City, four of which were won.
[1] In 1955, there was a dispute within the union over whether Pollard, by then general secretary, has misused funds donated by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, intended to support victims of Hurricane Janet.