Government Building to Be Named in Honor of Jamaica's former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller

KINGSTON, Jamaica – In observance of Workers’ Week and Labour Day this year, two government buildings are to be renamed after former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller, and former legislature, Lynden Gladstone Newland,

Portia Simpson MillerIn making the announcement, Minister of Culture, Olivia Grange said the main building at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, along North Street in Downtown Kingston,  will be named the Portia Simpson Miller Building, and the National Insurance Building at National Heroes Circle also in the Corporate Area, will be called the Lynden Gladstone Newland Building.

Speaking in Parliament,  Grange said the gesture was in recognition of modern-day leaders who have contributed to the welfare and improvement of workers of Jamaica.

“Both acts are in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the movement for the rights and proper working conditions of Jamaican workers,” she noted.

Among his contributions to national development, Newland was the founding father of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). 

As Minister of Labour and Welfare, Mrs. Simpson Miller presided over the expansion of Jamaica’s overseas work programme and was credited for transforming the NIS into a major component of the government’s social protection system.

Grange said the start of Workers’ Week and Labour Day 2025, on Sunday May 18, also coincided with the anniversary of the birth of former Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer, whom she credited as being a stalwart of the labour movement.

“To this end, there will be a special floral tribute in his honour at the National Heroes Park at 3 p.m. (local time) after the Workers’ Week and Labour Day Thanksgiving Service earlier that day,” she announced.

For Labour Day 2025, the focus will be on protecting the environment under the slogan, Jamaica Nice, Protect Wi Paradise.

The national project will be the establishment of the Environmental and Research Park at Maison River in Clarendon. In 2011, the protected site gained recognition as a wetland of international significance, becoming Jamaica’s fourth Ramsar site under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for St. Andrew South West Dr. Angela Brown Burke welcomed the recognition of the contributions of former Prime Minister and People’s National Party president, Portia Simpson Miller, and Lynden Newland to social welfare in Jamaica.

“I think sometimes there are so many individuals who give almost their life in terms of making tremendous changes to who we are and how things are done. And sometimes in passing we mention them, but we don’t fully acknowledge them. And I believe that it is important as we move into the second decade for people of African descent, where we have gone beyond just recognition and justice, but really to look a little bit more deeply about how we address some of these injustices. So I’m glad to see that happening,” said Brown Burke, who was speaking in Parliament earlier this week.