Introduction
With over 1,300 titles, the film archive of the Österreichisches Produktivitäts-Zentrum (Austrian Productivity Center) presents a resource which is not only unique in Europe but also extremely informative for contemporary history. Continue reading
Abstract
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the proportion of women working as domestic servants in Australia was steadily decreasing. Continue reading
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
Abstract
Family Day Care began in Australia, in the early 1970s, as an inexpensive and flexible means of providing community childcare places in private homes with authorised care-providers, then known as “day care mothers.” Continue reading
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
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
Abstract
European miners in the colonial and post-Federation period worked in one of three ways: independently on their own account, in co-operative groups, or as wage employees for companies or syndicates. Continue reading
Abstract
In July 1937 Japan embarked on a full-scale invasion of China and by October the war zone extended to the eastern seaboard and to Canton. Continue reading
When a society shows an attitude of intolerance and malice towards part of the organic process of its cultural development, it is acting malevolently towards the whole culture as well as towards the part of the organism…it does not merit a living culture.1 Continue reading
Abstract
John Dwyer (1856-1934) was a London docks foreman who emigrated to Australia in 1888. Dwyer embarked upon a quest for recognition—recognition of his rights as a worker and his identity as an individual. Continue reading
Abstract
This paper considers the nature of workplace relations at one of Australia’s most powerful media firms, Australian Consolidated Press. Continue reading
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
Abstract
This paper is about an Act of the British Parliament which has largely been forgotten by British labour historians but is very important for Australian labour historians. That Act permitted for the first time what we would call “industrial arbitration”. Continue reading
Abstract
In May 1950, during the debate on the Communist Party Dissolution Bill, a young doctor with a promising career was sacked. No reasons for his dismissal were given and no right of appeal was permitted. Outside his working hours Paul James was politically active in the emerging peace movement in Melbourne and the subject, therefore, of an adverse security file. Continue reading
Abstract
In the period September 1996 to January 1998 the Australian Soccer Players’ Association and Soccer Australia were locked in a dispute over payments to, and a collective agreement for, Australia’s international players—the Socceroos. Continue reading
Japan’s victories throughout South East Asia in the first months of the Pacific War stranded nearly 2,000 Chinese seamen, along with hundreds of refugees from British Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies and other European colonies, in the port cities of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Continue reading
Abstract
The sport of sailing small open boats (technically known as wet-boats) in Australia can be traced back to the 18th century. Continue reading
The freeing of unfree labour has received less attention in the unfree labour debate than other issues such as the conditions under which unfree labour worked. This paper focuses on the phasing out of unfree labour in the Northern Territory cattle industry and comparing this process with the Assamese tea industry. Continue reading
In a previous paper1, we compared the industrial relations of coolies employed in the tea gardens of Assam with those of Aborigines who worked in the cattle industry of tropical Australia. Continue reading
Jack Lang would not have been surprised at his government’s win in the NSW general elections of 25 October 1930—it was easily predictable. Continue reading