This was a branch of the larger Cannings Group of Companies which included, among its many subsidiaries, a chain of supermarkets, stationery stores, meat wholesalers, a soft drink and ice cream factory and many others.
[1] In 1965 Clotil Walcott began her activities in the Labour Movement by joining the Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (UCIW).
The bulletin announcing its formation stated: "Calling all persons serving in the capacity of cooks, kitchen helpers, maids, butlers, seamstresses, laundresses, barmen, babysitters, chauffeurs, messengers, yardmen and household assistants"[1] heralding the union’s concern with low income workers more generally in addition to domestic workers.
During the election campaign of 1976, she supported the Democratic Action Congress (DAC) a centre party, because in her own words – "I felt it my duty to find a platform through which I could influence a programme and promote the women’s role in our society… I had the opportunity of encouraging one of the leading platform speaker Mrs. Jennifer Johnson of the DAC to give prominence to both the international and local aspect of women Progressive Programme …" Later she would shift her allegiance, as many trade unionists would, to the United Labour Front.
In 1980, Walcott was invited by Maria Mies and Rhoda Reddock to attend an international conference on Women’s Struggles and Research at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in The Netherlands.
She would subsequently speak at conferences in Vienna, Austria; Turin, Italy; Nairobi, Kenya; Beijing, China and London in the United Kingdom as well as Kingston, Jamaica.