Maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't see the sugar plantation owners in the Carib suddenly offering their surviving former slaves fair wages for the work. Did they continue to exploit the population of ex-slaves, like happened in the American South after the Civil War, or did they somehow import cheap (but technically free) labor, or what?
There's always more to be said, but you may be interested in /u/sowser's answer to British Exports to the Caribbean, circa 1840ish.