There were two possible reasons for this: it can be attributed to workers, as members of a racist colonial society, not yet being ready for this level of organizations and they may have been avoiding repression from the government.
The Royal West Indian Mail Service (KWIM), acting on behalf of a number of shipping companies, lowered dockworkers' wages.
When the company's general management in New York rejected this compromise, a riot ensued at its offices in the Curaçao capital of Willemstad.
The police needed military assistance to put it down, killing four and wounding nineteen in the process.
These unions were largely driven by their leaders while the rank and file had as yet little interest in unionizing for a number of reasons: Despite the severe global economic crisis, Curaçao's economy was thriving and drawing large numbers of immigrants, mostly from Portuguese Madeira and the British Caribbean islands.