It was founded on the initiative of various trade union organizations in order to contest the 1987 parliamentary election.

The proposal to found the party was first presented by Ephraim Kalsakau, a leader of the Vanuatu Municipal Workers Union.

[1] In the 1987 polls, it presented four candidates; George Kalsakau in Port Vila, Willy Romain in Tanna, Thomas Reynold in Luganville and Kenneth Satungia of Efate.

[2] Ephraim Kalsakau later claimed that the electoral participation was mainly intended as an awareness-raising effort, and that the party hadn't expected to win any of the seats.

[7] In the 2012 general election, Kalsakau narrowly lost his seat, by a margin of just twelve votes (out of more than 15,000), leaving Labour without representation in Parliament.