Labour union history is back, or did it never really go away?
New Zealand unions suffered a hammering during the 1990s, legislatively and economically, but the writing of labour history didn't suffer as much.
The first history of the Auckland union movement came from Tom Walsh in 1913 who traced its development from 1863 to 1890. He used old newspaper reports and recollections of earlier activists to argue the case for arbitration, in opposition to the “Red Fed“ militancy of the time. Another example of labour history with ideological purpose. There were also short histories prepared by J.T. Paul, Jack McCullough and J. Young of the Canterbury Trades and Labour Council in 1911, and by J.T. Paul of the Otago Trades and Labour Council in 1912, for local industrial exhibitions.
From then there have been published histories of specific disputes, of trades councils and of particular unions. There have also been autobiographies and biographies, of varying lengths, of union leaders and activists. The 1970s and 1980s saw an increased awareness of the need to collect and chronicle historical material, especially with the formation of the Trade Union History Project (TUHP). However, the 1987 Labour Relations Act, and its 1,000 member minimum requirements, saw many union amalgamations, with the loss of both regional and specific trade identities. Many unions became "general" as opposed to "trade" unions, and now organised across diverse industries. The 1991 Employment Contracts Act even removed the word "union" from employment law.
Many unions reacted to the new legal environment with even further amalgamations, picking up diverse members from collapsed or defunct union organisations. However, they also became less willing to fund the publishing of union histories, preferring to build new identities rather than celebrate those of former unions. Bert Roth's death in 1994 also removed our major contributor to union history.
Nevertheless, the TUHP had sufficient funds to continue recording oral histories of a number of union officials, and engage in some publishing. Also, academics were still active. In 1993 Maryan Street published The Scarlet Runners; Women and Industrial Action 1889 - 1913 (Working Life Communications). In 1995 Auckland University Press published both Erik Olssen's Building the New World; work, politics and society in Caversham 1880's - 1920's, and Len Richardson's Coal, Class & Community; the United Mineworkers of New Zealand, 1880 - 1960. In 1988 that publisher had also published Olssen's The Red Feds; revolutionary industrial unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour 1908 - 1913. In 1998 Victoria University Press published Never a white flag; the memoirs of Jock Barnes, edited by Tom Bramble. Academic theses and the like also continued to be written.
In 2001, echoing the union resurgence encouraged by the Labour Alliance coalition's new Employment Relations Act, three major new works of New Zealand labour history appeared. This definitely moved the debate on to "labour history", rather than just "union history". Each book describes the totality of working in a particular industry, rather than providing an organisational history of the type that Bert and others are more identified with. Many surviving unions are now made up of a very diverse mixture of industries and occupations, making histories of the component parts of current organisations almost impossible to piece together.
They are: Anna Green's British Capital, Antipodean Labour; working the New Zealand waterfront, 1915 - 1951 (University of Otago Press), Neill Atkinson's Crew culture; New Zealand seafarers under sail and steam (Te Papa Press), and Peter Franks' Print and Politics; a History of Trade Unions in the New Zealand Printing Industry, 1865 - 1995 (Victoria University Press).
Each, against a background of overseas controlled shipping and media industries, are about local employee attempts at controlling technological change in the workplace, as well as the betterment of their wages and conditions. Those changes, according to industry, include from sail to steam, or hot metal to cold type, or the increased dangers in loading and unloading cargo. Each looks at the changing nature of the workforce, particularly women in the printing industry. Whether it be "crew culture", or loyalty to the chapel, or "spelling", each also provide examples of worker solidarity, which is reflected in their union conciousness. Each is a very worthy contribution to New Zealand labour history.
More recently David Grant has written Those who can, teach on the history of the P.P.T.A., edited The big blue on the 1951 lock out, and is writing a history of the New Zealand seafarers' union. James Bennett has also published Rats and revolutionaries. Subtitled “the labour movement in Australia and New Zealand 1890 - 1940“, this provides a comparative analysis of political and industrial trends. There is also Graeme Hunt's biography of Fintan Patrick Walsh.
The passing of identities such as Jock Barnes in 2000 and Bill Andersen will likely lead to new biographies. The latest is Kin by Melanie Nolan, and is to follow the sub-title “a collective biography of a New Zealand working-class family“. It also provides an excellent overview of current thinking and trends in New Zealand labour history.
Bibliography has also expanded with Paul Corliss and his Words at work, which greatly expands Bert Roth's earlier bibliography.
David - Heritage.
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