History Document Analysis- Trade Unionism

How was trade unionism developed?

Developed by idea that 'mateship' was Australia's most common identity, which was demonstrated by ordinary people standing by each other in struggle to overcome tough conditions and injustice.

What are trade unions?

Trade unions are formed by employees within an occupation or industry to bargain with employers for improved wages and conditions. They also try to ensure that any previously gained social improvements are kept.

Where was the trade union tradition inherited from?

Britain

Who and when was the first Australian trade unions formed?

1840s, however temporarily disrupted by gold rushes and then reorganized. By the 1850s many trade unions had been formed, bringing to the establishment of the Melbourne Trades Hall Committee, which was a central organization of affiliated unions.

What was a victory of the Australian union movement?

Winning the eight-hour workday on 21 April 1856 by the Stonemasons Union.

What did unions use to win their objectives?

Strikes and pickets. First full-scale union picket was staged during the Bootmakers' Union strike in 1884. Unions also held strikes to protest against businesses employing Chinese workers, who were paid at much lower rates than Europeans.

What did the Melbourne Tailoresses' Union campaign against?

wage cuts for already poorly paid female workers in the clothing industry. Its campaign led to a parliamentary inquiry into sweated labour, and the establishment of boards to ensure that standards were in place for wages, working hours and conditions.

How could workers improved their conditions?

By electing representatives to fight for their rights in the colonial parliaments. At first, factions and pressure groups dominated colonial politics. The main groups were the protectionists and the free traders. Both represented the interests of businesspeople. The issue of free trade versus protection of local industries (by charging duties on imports) deeply divided the colonies. In New South Wales there was strong support for free trade while Victoria supported protection.

Political parties began to emerge in the late 1880s as the protectionists and free traders became more organised. The most significant step in the development of political parties, however, was the birth of the labour parties. Since its inception, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has had links with the trade union movement. Formed in 1891, it is the oldest political party in Australia, and one of the oldest labour parties in the world.

What happened between 1890 and 1894?

A series of great strikes due to Employers said they were fighting for 'freedom of contract'— the right to hire workers who were not union members and to pay them less than the wages that had been won by the unions.

The 1890 maritime strike affected all the eastern colonies and involved wharf labourers, seamen, ships' officers, transport workers and shearers. The 1891 shearers' strike saw armed clashes between shearers on the one hand and strike-breakers, the army and police on the other at Barcaldine in Queensland. The strike ended after four months; thirteen of its leaders were arrested and sentenced to three years of hard labour. These strikes were followed by the Broken Hill miners' strike in 1892 and a further strike of shearers and other bush workers in 1893-94.

Why did strikes fail?

Because the employers were able to find strike-breakers to carry out much of the work and could use the law against the strikers.

Government Supported employers not employees.

Union leaders were jailed.

Who did the union movement involve?

The union movement involves a wide range of workers, including early craft-based workers like carpenters and coopers, and later broadened to include miners, shearers, and many other blue-collar jobs. It also includes modern-day white-collar employees like teachers, bank clerks, and pharmacists, as well as women, migrants, and other marginalized groups who have been crucial to its growth and evolution. Political figures and union officials, such as those in leadership roles at peak bodies like the ACTU, are also central to the movement.