On the Waterfront: Union Gains and Struggles 1890-1998

Abstract

In his opening address for On the Waterfront, John Coombs, the National Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) emphasised that it was 'never to soon to put contemporary events into historical perspective'. After a welcome by Sydney Branch president, Beverley Symons, Coombs discussed the recent dispute and highlighted the 'long history of international solidarity on the waterf ronf as a major factor underpinning the widespread support given to the MUA. In an important reminder that no dispute ever really 'ends', Coombs warned of upcoming discussion in Federal Parliament of proposed legislation which he saw as the next instalment in the Coalition's attempt to marginalise his union. These interrelated aspects of persistent attempts to deunionise the stevedoring industry and the consequent importance for the maritime unions of the development and maintenance of international and community links provided a theme that underlay contributions by other speakers to the conference. Papers were presented by Margo Beasley, Rowan Cahill, Braham Dabscheck, Greg Mallory, Tony Morison, Richard Morris, Bruce Scates and Tom Sheridan. The conference was well attended by a broad range of people including unionists, academics and students. Margo Beasley outlined the historical developments of the Waterside Workers Federation (WWF) against the background of repeated attempts to introduce non union labour onto Australian ports. Her presentation spanned the years between the emergence of early stevedoring unionism in the late 19th century, when 'casual labour became the union' to the recruitment dispute of 1954. Two themes on which Beasley chose to place particular emphasis were the formation in 1917 of the Permanent and Casuals (P&Cs), an employer sponsored organisation, designed to marginalise the Federation, and the Federation's remarkably successful strategies of solidarity and appeals for regional community support. The theme of community support and involvement was central to Bruce Scates' spirited presentation on the 1890 Maritime Strike, in which tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealand unionists 'fought over the very right to organise'. Scates' presentation focused the relationship between the strike, working families, class and gender identity. He argued that 'the private struggle of the home was also transferred into the public struggle on the street.' As such the dispute was not only fought on the picket lines, but 'in the backyards,... and kitchens'. Richard Morris, examined the 1928 Transport Workers ('Dog-Collar') Act and Federal government attempts to debilitate the WWF by means of regulation rather than deregistration. Morris argued that the political environment of the day?