|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 About Us  About Unions NSWAbout UnionsWho's WhoInformation Centre What's Going On? Annual Reports   
|
|
|
Labor Council HistoryThe Unions NSW was founded in 1871. Originally it was named the "Trades and Labor Council of Sydney" because it covered the craft unions or unions of skilled workers as well as the newly emerging unions for bush labourers. Through the second half of the last century unions grew in numbers and influence. The Eight Hour Day push began with skilled tradespeople in the 1850s but other workers were not so lucky. The collective strength of a body such as the Labor Council enabled more workers to improve their rights, conditions and wages. It helped labourers to organise alongside the skilled trades unions. With the onset of the depression in the early 1890s, unemployment increased and employers used this as an opportunity to provoke a confrontation with the unions. The "Great Strikes" started in the maritime industry but quickly spread to encompass many other occupations. The employers gained the upper hand, largely because of the economic situation and the use of the powers of Government, including the Colonial Police against the unionists. Following the strikes, union membership fell dramatically forcing union leaders to rethink their approach. They recognised the need to have worker representatives in Parliament organised into a political party as those representatives who they had previously supported were seen to have let them down. This lead to The Pledge that Labor members had to sign guaranteeing solidarity with the party. Other union members were not so sure about the Parliamentary approach and wanted workers to overthrow the parliamentary system. Labour organisations argued around this point for many years, with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and later the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) becoming the leading organisations opposed to the Parliamentary road. In the meantime union membership recovered along with the economy. In 1908, the Trades and Labor Council of Sydney was renamed the Labor Council of New South Wales. In those early days the role of the Labor Council was to stimulate the growth of trade unions. During the first thirty years, debates within the Labor Council were dominated by two major questions:
One question led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party, through its Parliamentary Committee in 1891. The development of conciliation and arbitration was the way in which unions resolved the second question. Other broad labour organisations developed, notably the Australian Federation of Labour, but Labor Council continued, with a key role in the building of a Trades Hall in Sydney, and also remained a focal point for the labouring unions in their struggles for better pay and conditions. The Labor Council developed a negotiating role between these unions and employers, and as a central lobbying agent for workers with various governments. This continues to be a major part of the function of Labor Council. The Council took the arbitration route and NSW had an Industrial Arbitration Act from 1901. The arbitration system moved in and out favour with unions and the Labor Council, depending on the government of the day and the changes they made to the Act. From 1908 it was significantly strengthened in its powers a to arbitrate and requires to comply with its decisions. A commission and Court system, which firmly entrenched the Labor Council’s leading role in the settling of disputes. Communications issues were then a major part of Labor Council concerns. To this end a "workers voice" was established with the 2KY radio station. In addition, pamphlets on many industrial and social issues were developed by Labor Council around this time. 1930sDuring the Great Depression there was disillusionment among unionists with the process of conciliation and arbitration as workers' wages and conditions deteriorated. Another major economic downturn from the late 1920s again had a severe impact on union membership. In NSW ALP Premier Jack Lang struggled to oppose the financial forces ranged against him, but also undermined the alternative economic plans developed by the federal ALP leadership of Scullin and Theodore. Before long both were replaced by conservative United Australia Party administrations who attacked wages and conditions and stopped funding for various public works programs that had helped workers survive the downturn. Unions and Labor Council fought to ameliorate the worst effects of the Depression. This was a time of widespread disillusionment; in the search for alternatives radical movements gained momentum. The CPA gained in strength but perhaps its influence on mainstream unionism declined. Recovery from the mid 1930s saw some improvements in wages and conditions. The conservative governments realised that they needed to work with Labor Council in developing the state’s industries. WARThe onset of war provided a great stimulus to manufacturing and also reduced male labour availability. With the co-operation of unions the Federal and State Governments developed manpower programs. Women entered the workforce in great numbers (albeit at lower rates of pay). Cooperation between unions and the Federal Government developed significantly during World War II. The Government nominated unionists to sit on various wartime committees and boards. POST WAR CHANGESAfter 1945, the Labor Council set about the task of creating a new social order. A major campaign was launched for a "40 hour week". In 1947 the State Labor government, as a result of Labor Council initiatives, legislated for the 40 hour week to apply to State Awards. The federal ALP was slower in introducing this change. Widespread agitation from left unions who saw the opportunity to extend workers control over more areas of the economy was a major cause of industrial disputes at this time. The Labor Council preferred to work with ALP governments to achieve gradual improvement for workers In the 1950s the Labor Council, with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, led a campaign for equal wages to be paid to women in the workforce. This was slow in coming, with women’s’ pay gradually moving from half to two thirds of the male rate (despite doing exactly the same work). It wasn’t until 1969 that an Equal Pay case in the federal Conciliation and Arbitration Commission was begun, and no major outcomes were seen until the election of the Whitlam ALP government in 1972. Women’s pay still lags behind men’s and Labor Council has recently played a leading role in this area with the 1997-98 test case charting new ground in pay comparisons across industry and skills. From the 1950s the Australian economy expanded rapidly with large infrastructure projects (such as the Snowy Scheme) and the rise of the manufacturing sector. A huge migration program provided the workforce and market. Unions grew too and the Labor Council played a strong role in NSW, particularly under the ALP governments from 1941 until 1965. Major improvements for workers in which the Labor Council played a key role included the introduction of long service leave (from 1955), expansion of sick leave entitlements, an increase in annual leave (from one week pre war until 4 weeks became the standard from the early 1970s), a reduction in working hours (from 44 to 40 in 1947) and later the Labor Council led campaigns for a 35 hour week which was largely unsuccessful but the 38 hour week did become the norm from the 1980s. The apprenticeship system had remained largely unchanged from the 1920s and the Labor Council was instrumental in getting an inquiry established in 1969. This was long overdue given the rapid growth in manufacturing and this led to major changes in technical and further education systems in NSW. From the late 1980s further changes in the apprenticeship and traineeship systems were instigated at federal level and Labor Council continues to play a key role in monitoring a developing the apprenticeship and traineeship systems. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGEIn the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Labor Council broadened its role. The structures of work began to change, and the 1960s counter culture movements impacted on the aspirations of workers, with a search for broader interests and enthusiasms, beyond the issues of work and pay. Full employment had eased workers struggles. Unions became more involved in the arts, sport and the life of the community generally. Also workplace issues broadened to cover occupational health and safety matters, flexible working hours, maternity, paternity and adoption leave, childcare and family matters. The Labor Council was instrumental in establishing the first work-based child care centre in Australia. More recent examples of these issues include family and carers leave, cultural leave for those from various religious and cultural backgrounds, recognising the diversity of the Australian people, breastfeeding rights at work, drug and alcohol programs for those who need assistance. An Arts and Cultural Affairs officer were appointed in 1978, who helped co-ordinate workers theatre, murals and art and working life programs. In 1980, a Drug and Alcohol Coordinator was appointed and in 1981, a Women's Advisory Officer and more recently a Productive Diversity Officer was established. ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURINGWith the onset of recession from the mid 1980s Labor Council played a key role in ensuring decent standards of redundancy payments for workers forced out by technological change and restructuring. The NSW standard became the benchmark for Australia. More recently Labor Council has led the way in seeking improvements in conditions for workers and improvements in the regulation of Labour Hire firms, has used the Olympic Games (in which Labor Council played a key role in attracting to Sydney) to organise a new group of workers and also made sure Olympic products were manufactured under appropriate conditions not in sweat shops. The development of the enterprise bargaining system since 1991 has led to new challenges for unions and Labor Council firstly fought to prevent the worst aspects of the Greiner government industrial changes and then ensured that the new Industrial legislation introduced by the Carr ALP government was the best in the world. Enterprise bargaining backed up by a strong award system are the base of the NSW system, with Labor Council ensuring awards are continually updated for the benefit of workers in NSW. The Labor Council has been willing to work with the state government but also challenge it in the interests of workers’ as its strong campaign against changes to the workers’ compensation system (first introduced with Labor Council backing 1926) showed. ORGANISING AND COMMUNICATIONSAttacks on unions and the decline in union membership are of major concern at the moment and Labor Council resources are focused on developing organising strategies to meet the changed structure of the workforce and the changed way that work is done. Information technology has been behind these changes and Labor Council is utilising the technology to take on these new challenges. The Labor Council’s web-project, LaborNET, was first launched in 1996 – at the time it was among the first union sites in Australia. Today LaborNET is the largest clustering of Australian union information available on the Internet. With over ten thousand visitors a week, LaborNET has been consistently rated as the most popular political site in Australia. Workers Online, the official organ of LaborNET, has become a popular weekly e-zine with over 5000 subscribers it is an indispensable source of information and a lively, sometimes provocative, forum for discussing issues of concern to movement. This continues the tradition of innovative ways the Labor Council has developed in contacting and informing union members and potential members. NSW Unions have committed themselves to a change program of re-orientation towards an organising approach. This involves, improving communication with members, community campaigns, focusing on workplace issues and building strong delegate networks. The Labor Council has re-structured itself into Community, Organising and Industrial areas and has established a high-level Organising Committee that is now the key driver for the Council’s organising activities. |
|
|
Home | Contact | Feedback | Sitemap | Privacy Statement |
|
© Unions NSW 2001. URL: http://council.labor.net.au/about_us/lcnsw_history.html
Unions NSW is proudly created, designed and programmed by |
 |
 |
  |
