Labour History Melbourne | Community organisation

Labour History Melbourne

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24.01.2022 On 21 April, 1856, Stonemasons in Melbourne went on strike to win the Eight-Hour Day. Union historian Liam Byrne tells the story of how workers in Australia won the eight-hour day for the first time anywhere in the world. You can read more at the ATUI history page: https://bit.ly/3ehossN

19.01.2022 Jon Piccini, Peter Stanley, and Douglas Newton speaking with Phillip Adams. Worth a listen.

19.01.2022 Winner of the 2020 Australian Industrial Relations Commission Centennial Prize, Daniel Hannington-Pinto. This prize is awarded for the best research essay or t...hesis on Industrial Relations or Labour History. Dan won the prize for his PhD thesis, titled ‘The Social and Moral Campaigning of Australian Trade Unions, 1960s to 2015.’ https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au///04/daniel-hannington-pinto/

14.01.2022 The South Australia branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History has organised a fantastic conference for 6 February 2021. Numbers are limited so book early.

11.01.2022 UNION WIN! TONIGHT, after almost six weeks on strike, United Workers Union members at McCormick voted to accept a new offer from the company. For five years Mc...Cormick has worked to slash hard-won conditions and offered a 0% pay rise. After almost six weeks on strike, McCormick workers have managed to retain all the conditions and won a fair pay rise. The offer includes: - Retaining ALL previous conditions the company wanted to remove including the 4 day week roster - 9% pay rise across 3 years - $5000 sign on bonus From the start, workers knew this was bigger than just one site. This has been a fight for respect for all essential workers who toiled through the pandemic, while their companies made massive profits, only to be told that there was no money for a pay rise and that workers had to accept what they were given. But McCormick workers drew a line in the sand and said enough is enough. This win has shown that when workers stand united, they can win! Thank you to the more than 1250 people who donated, to the unions who supported workers on the ground and anyone who attended the strike or took action to support these workers! We are a mighty movement!

11.01.2022 Vale George Zangalis, 1931 - 2021. Unionist and migrant activist George Zangalis, passed away yesterday. A union member, shop steward and then a organiser at GM... Holden and on the railways. He was an executive member of the VTHC, board member of SBS, President of 3ZZZ and importantly President of the Australian Railways Union Victorian Branch. The VTHC executive stood in a moments silence to respect the contribution of a lifelong activist, communist, socialist and leader of progressive movements and causes. Solidarity comrade.

09.01.2022 Beginning in the dead of night on April 7th 1998 balaclava wearing security guards with dogs were sent into ports around Australia to forcibly remove more than ...1500 members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) from workplaces operated by employer Patrick Stevedores. Thus began the war on the waterfront. In close collusion with the Federal coalition government and other employers Patricks, headed up by Chris Corrigan, had already engaged in a series of attacks on the union, including sending former and serving members of the military to Dubai to train as scab labour. The wholesale sacking of the workforce was a brazen move which soon backfired as tens of thousands of people around Australia joined picket lines and mass rallies. Many of those who put their bodies on the line, facing, and in some cases enduring police violence, did so not only in disgust against a blatant attack on the right to organise, but also because wharfies and other maritime workers had shown solidarity with other workers and movements for more than a century. With mass picketing continuing around the country the sacking of the workers was eventually ruled by the courts to be illegal. The photos of Melbourne picket lines and protests accompanying this post were taken by Takver. For a blow by blow account of the dispute and various analyses of its causes and outcomes visit- http://www.takver.com/wharfie/index.htm An example of the many solidarity actions taken by waterfront unions over the decades and their role in opposing apartheid can be found here- https://commonslibrary.org/lessons-that-can-be-learnt-from/

08.01.2022 Aboriginal Workers: a 1995 special issue of Labour History revisited in 2020. With work from Indigenous scholars and activists. This issue carries a new introdu...ction for 2020 written by the editors of the original issue, reflecting on both the current Black Lives Matter protests as well as the initial intentions for the issue back in 1995. Articles include: WORKING FOR THE WHITE PEOPLE: AN HISTORIOGRAPHIC ESSAY ON ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LABOUR ANN CURTHOYS | CLIVE MOORE ‘WE COULDN’T TOLERATE ANY MORE’: THE PALM ISLAND STRIKE OF 1957 JOANNE WATSON ENDURING MOMENTS OF ABORIGINAL DOMINANCE: ABORIGINAL PERFORMERS, BOXERS AND RUNNERS RICHARD BROOME Browse the full issue online https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journ/issue/5649 Read an interview with Ann McGrath, Kay Saunders, and Jackie Huggins, the editors of the original issue, as they explain why it remains so relevant today and why now was the right time to bring it back in to focus, over on the LUP Blog. https://liverpooluniversitypress.blog//aboriginal-workers/ "The reason for republishing and relaunching this book 25 years after its publication is because this collection enhances our understanding of the history of slavery. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has drawn international attention to the long and shameful history of slavery. However, this is generally seen as an institution primarily affecting people of African descent. For Indigenous Australians, the BLM movement resonates powerfully with them today, for high numbers of their own people continue to die in police custody or prisons. They also share a history of labour exploitation and oppression, plus racism on the basis of their skin colour." - Ann McGrath, Kay Saunders, and Jackie Huggins. Labour History: a Journal of Labour and Social History is published on behalf of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. Order a print copy now > https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/54770/ Subscribe to Labour History > https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/id/55

08.01.2022 Sean Scalmer, Democratic Adventurer: Graham Berry and the Making of Australian Politics (Clayton: Monash University Publishing, 2020), 349. pp. $39.95 Paper. (Review) Carolyn Rasmussen In 1969 I chose to write an essay on the battles between the Victorian Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council in the 1870s. I was deeply engaged by the drama of ‘the people’ seeking to wrest political and economic power from the propertied classes, and by the most notable champion of this cause, Graham Berry, sometimes with and sometimes without the support of David Syme of the... https://labourhistorymelbourne.org//sean-scalmer-democrat/

03.01.2022 Some important WHS research - can be bought as a one-off issue by contacting the publisher. Would be good if unions subscribed.

03.01.2022 By Peter Beilharz John Curtin’s reputation rests on the years of his Prime Ministership. The Marxism and radicalism of his youth are less well recognised. These reflections, originally delivered as a public lecture to Curtin University on the occasion of its fiftieth year in 2017, set out to remind those connected with the University of this legacy, and to puzzle it.... https://labourhistorymelbourne.org//john-curtin-socialism/

02.01.2022 Great opportunity for Honours and Postgrad students: Researching labour history? Interested in using the Noel Butlin Archives? The Eric Fry scholarship is open for applications until 31 March