Category Archives: Industrial labour

2011 ASSLH conference – Much more than green bans

 

Much more than green bans: locating the New South Wales Builders Labourers’ Federation in the history of international trade unionism
 

Verity Burgmann and Meredith Burgmann

Abstract

The green bans movement of the New South Wales Builders Labourers’ Federation (NSWBLF) was immensely significant, but has tended to overshadow the union’s other achievements. This paper marks the fortieth anniversary of its green bans that commenced in 1971 by offering a more broad-ranging tribute to this extraordinary union. Continue reading →

2011 ASSLH conference – ‘A not unimportant role’: industry peak unions and inter-­union organising

 

‘A not unimportant role’: industry peak unions and inter-­union organising

Cathy Brigden

Abstract

Since the mid 1990s, there has been a significant expansion in the literature analysing peak unions. However, most of the research has focused on national, state and regional peak unions, with little attention given industry-scale peak unions. Just as peak bodies have long been part of the union landscape in many towns and cities, so too industry peak bodies have similar deep historical roots, evidenced by discussion by the Webbs. Continue reading →

2011 ASSLH conference – The Aftermath of the 1951 Waterfront Lockout

 

‘We never recovered from that strike’: The Aftermath of the 1951 Waterfront Lockout and Supporting Strikes

 Grace Millar

 

Abstract

The 1951 waterfront lockout and supporting strikes lasted five months and involved 20,000 workers.  As one of New Zealand’s largest industrial disputes it has received considerable historical attention, but the main focus of research has been on the beginning of the dispute. The limited historical work on the end of the dispute and the aftermath has focused on union structures, rather than the people of labour history.   Continue reading →

2011 ASSLH conference – ‘That’s not right’: Indigenous politics, Dexter Daniels and 1968

 

‘That’s not right’: Indigenous politics, Dexter Daniels and 19681

Julie Kimber

 Abstract

The high hopes associated with the landmark Cattle Industry (Northern Territory) Award, 1966, which promised equal pay for indigenous workers soon soured. For many activists the decision was a Pyrrhic victory. This was especially true for Dexter Daniels, the North Australian Workers’ Union organiser who, in the lead up to the case, had visited the cattle stations in the Northern Territory. Continue reading →

2011 ASSLH conference – ‘Bastards from the bush’: forgotten IWW activists

 

‘Bastards from the bush’: forgotten IWW activists

Drew Cottle
Rowan Day

 

Abstract

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) have secured a place in Australian folklore as one of the most notable examples of class-conscious rebellion. For a time in the 1910s the State viewed them as public enemy number one, an insidious menace responsible for inciting the class conflict in Australia. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference: Misunderstanding Australian labour: Samuel Gompers, Billy Hughes, and the debate over compulsory arbitration

David Palmer
Senior Lecturer, American Studies, Department Social Sciences Flinders University

Abstract

The compulsory arbitration and award system served as the foundation of Australian industrial relations and trade unionism throughout most of the twentieth century. In the United States, however, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed compulsory arbitration. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference: The introduction of the chain system: An ‘Heroic Defeat’ for the AMIEU (Vic)

Marjorie A Jerrard
Monash University

Abstract

Much has been written from the labour process perspective about the chain system of slaughtering and its deskilling of the slaughtermen’s trade. This paper explores the technological change and work reorganisation necessitated by the chain system, from the trade union strategy perspective, using the rational choice framework of the “heroic defeat” developed by Golden. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – The life and times of the Barrier Industrial Council: A study in local peak union origins, purpose, power and decline

Bradon Ellem & John Shields
Work & Organisational Studies, School of Business, University of Sydney

Abstract

The Barrier Industrial Council (BIC) is one of the best known examples of a powerful union peak body in Australia. Upon its establishment in the early 1920s, it oversaw a particular form of working class mobilisation and, for many years, exercised something like a hegemony both for and over its affiliates. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – Theorising peak union formation, purpose and power: A discussion paper

Bradon Ellem & John Shields
Work & Organisational Studies, School of Business, University of Sydney

Abstract

Peak unions occupy a constantly moving point of intersection between two competing sets of forces: those of organisational unity and class solidarity and the forces of fragmentation and sectionalism. We suggest that for any group of unions to form a peak body a state of internal equilibrium of power balance must exist between the unions concerned. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – Spatial practices and struggle over ground at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

Dr Lucy Taksa
School of Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour, University of NSW

Abstract

The Eveleigh railway workshops in Sydney were not just a geographic location in which specific industrial activities occurred, but also a political space in which power was exercised by the state, bureaucratic authority, and also through industrial and political mobilisation. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – Challenging equality masculinism: Edna Ryan’s struggles for equal pay 1958-1973

Professor Lyndall Ryan
Head: School of Humanities, Faculty of the Central Coast, University of Newcastle

Abstract

When labour activist Edna Ryan was widowed at the age of 53 in 1958, she became the family breadwinner. She quickly found that while pay and conditions for all workers were negotiated on a triennial basis between unions and management, whereby men had access to a career path and regular pay increases, no such provisions existed for women. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – Union birth, growth and death: The Lithgow ironworks 1900-14

Greg Patmore
University of Sydney

Abstract

Australian trade union membership grew dramatically in the period from 1900 to 1914. While there is recognition that compulsory arbitration may have played an important role, there are a range of explanatory factors that may explain the growth. Studies of union growth also neglect the workplace. Through an analysis of the Lithgow Ironworks this paper hopes to broaden the debate about union growth. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – The formation and role of an independent trades and labor council in Western Australia: A case study

Bobbie Oliver
Teaching and Research Fellow, Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, Curtin University

Abstract

This paper argues that adopting the Australian Labor Federation model, with the political and industrial wings in one organisation, made the labour movement in Western Australia significantly different from its counterparts in the eastern states of Australia. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – Becoming ‘unionate’? From staff association to national union: The ‘industrialisation’ of university staff 1983–1993

John O’Brien
School of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour, University of New South Wales

Abstract

This paper traces the history of the major unions covering Australian academic staff from the registration of the Federation of Australian University Staff and the Union of Australian College Academics in the federal industrial jurisdiction in the mid-1980s to the formation of the National Tertiary Education Union as an “industry” union incorporating general staff in 1983. Continue reading →

2001 ASSLH conference – No quick response: Who is responsible for clothing outwork reform?

Alastair Greig
School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

Abstract

The Australian clothing industry is often regarded as a relic of a previous industrial age ill-suited to the demands of a more “knowledge-intensive” nation. However, the modern Australian clothing industry combines elements of the so-called “new economy” with elements of highly exploitative work practices associated with outwork. Continue reading →