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The development of Australian trade unions and the labour movement
The majority of First Fleeters - the convicts - certainly deserve to be called workers, and their struggles were a lead up to unionism in Austrlaia. Some notable occurrences were: |
| 1791 | Convicts strike, demanding daily issue of rations, not weekly issue. | | 1822 | James Straighter, convict shepherd, sented to 500 lashes, one month solitary confinement on bread and water and five years' penal servitude for "... inciting his Master's servants to combine for the purposes of obliging him to raise the wages and increase their rations. | | 1824 | Pickets used in 'Coopers' strike. | | 1828 | Masters and Servants Act of NSW provides that "... servants could be imprisoned and have their wages forfeited for refusal to work or for destruction of property, and that Masters found guilty of ill-usage should be liable to pay damages up to 6 months wages". | | 1828 | Typographers, supported by carpenters, successfully strike for payment in sterling, against currency reform which threatens the value of wages. | | 1830 | Shipwrights union formed. | | 1831 | Boatbuilders union formed. | | 1833 | Cabinetmakers union formed. | | 1838 | Society of Compositers strike and increase wages by 5s5d per week. | | 1840 | Society of Compositors campaigns to restrict the number of apprentices. The Government uses convict compositors as strike breakers. | | 1843 | Economic depression leads to the formation of the Mutual Protection Society to protect the interests of the middle and working classes of New South Wales. | | 1844 | The Early Closing Movement seeks the reduction of hours from 14 to 12 per day. | 1848
| Political activity of the working class leads to the formation of the Anti-Transportation League. |
The period 1850 to 1900 sees the early development of Australian trade unions. Legislation existed in Britain that outlawed unions, similar in intent to the Masters and Servants Act, until the passing of the Trade Union Act in 1871. The English and Irish anti-union legislation was not particularly successful in those countries, nor did it prevent union activity in Australia.
Transportation ended in the eastern states in 1858 and in WA in 1868. Various craft unions were formed. |
| 1873 | Victoria passes the first factory act concerning safety. | | 1879 | First Intercolonial Trade Union Congress held in Sydney. | | 1882 | Formation of Victorian Tailoresses Union - Australia's first union formed by women. | | 1883 | Tailoresses strike. | | 1886 | The Shearers Union is formed. | | 1890 |
- Employers form the Employers Union, the Pastoralists Union, the Chamber of Manufacturers and the Steamship Owners Association.
- Maritime strike.
- Labour Electoral Leagues are formed by many Trades and Labour Councils. In NSW in 1891 "Labour" has 36 members elected to Parliament. Australian Labor Party created to provide political representation for the Union movement.
| | 1891 | The Shearers Union strikes over freedom of contract. | | 1892 | Miners strike in Broken Hill over wage cuts and employment of scabs. | | 1894 |
- Establishment of Female Employees Union (NSW).
- The Shearers Union strikes again on the same issues. The Masters and Servants Act is used against the Union - twenty-three years after England proclaimed the Trade Union Act.
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The preceding activity convinced unionists that legislation establishing Arbitration and Conciliation Courts was required.
During the period to 1904 the Australian Labour Federation was formed, the first Labor Government in the world was elected in Queensland and the first federal Labor Government was formed in 1904. |
| 1901 | Trade union membership is 97,200; population 3,774,000. NSW Industrial Arbitration Act. | | 1902 | Women in NSW and Commonwealth receive the vote. | | 1907 | The Minimum Basic Wage established by Justice Higgins in the Harvester Award. | | 1911 | Trade Union membership is 364,700; population 4,445,005. | | 1912 | Strikes in Brisbane over the Tramways Company refusal to recognise members' right to wear union badges. | | 1918 | The Australian Workers Union formed by rural worker organisations. | | 1920 | Forty four hour week awarded to timberworkers and engineers; others follow suit. Communist Party formed. | | 1921 | Trade Union membership is 703,000. | | 1926 | Federal Crimes Act amended to apply to unions - the 'Dog Collar Act'. This is applied to seamen and waterside workers in 1927 and 1927. |
| In the Depression years Prime Minister Scullin removes penal provisions, the government abandons the 1907 Justice Higgins' "needs" concept, and there are 10% wage cuts. |
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