Deposit Z621 - Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Construction and General Division deposit 1

Identity area

Reference code

AU NBAC Z621

Title

Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Construction and General Division deposit 1

Date(s)

  • 1915 - 2000 (Creation)

Level of description

Deposit

Extent and medium

89 cartons plus 94 archive boxes

Context area

Name of creator

(1945 - 1991)

Biographical history

The Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia formed from the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia in 1945 but was deregistered in 1948. An anti-communist faction of the union established a new Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners in 1950 which eventually became part of the Australian Workers' Union. The Building Workers' Industrial Union formally reconstituted in 1962. Members of the Federated Bricklayers' Association of Australia (deregistered 1950) and the Slaters Tilers Shinglers and Roof Fixers Union of Australia (deregistered 1976) also joined. In 1991 the BWIU amalgamated with the timber unions to become the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union and Building Workers' Industrial Union (ATAIU & BWIU) Amalgamated Union and to eventually be part of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in 1993.

Name of creator

(1911 - 1986)

Biographical history

Formed in 1911, the Australian Builders' Labourers' Federation's predecessors include the United Labourers' Friendly Society (1850s), the Melbourne United Labourers' Protection Society (1882), the Builders' Labourers' Union of Victoria (1898), the United Labourers' Protective Society of New South Wales (1883), the Builders' Labourers' Union of New South Wales (1901), the Adelaide Builders' Labourers' Society, and the Brisbane Builders' Labourers' Union. The Western Australian union joined the Federation in 1966. In 1972 it became the Australian Building Construction Employees' and Builders' Labourers' Federation until it was deregistered in 1974. It was registered again in 1976, but following a joint Federal and Victorian government Royal Commission was deregistered in 1986. Many members transferred to the Building Workers' Industrial Union and the Western Australian, Queensland, South Australian and Tasmanian branches merged with the BWIU. Branches in New South Wales and Victoria continued to operate into the 1990s and in the Australian Capital Territory till 1989.

Name of creator

(1992 -2018)

Biographical history

The Constuction Forestry Mining and Energy Union is the result of a series of amalgamations during the early 1990s. Prior to amalgamation there were numerous unions spread across construction, forestry, mining and energy industries. Those unions amalgamated along industry lines to form each of the divisions of the CFMEU. Each division operates autonomously, with its own membership, executive, resources, industry policies and campaigns. These divisions date as far back as the mid-nineteenth century and include such notable unions as the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation (the Miners' Federation), the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia, the Australian Timber Workers' Union, the Federated Furnishing Trade Society of Australasia, the Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia, the Operative Painters' and Decorators' Union of Australia, and the Federated Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Association of Australasia.

Name of creator

(1908 - 1992)

Biographical history

The Federated Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Association of Australasia dates back to local engine drivers' unions on Australian goldfields but was not registered federally until 1908. Predecessors include the Newcastle Colliery Engine Drivers' Union (1889-1921), the Newcastle Crane Employees' Union (1893-1915), the Shore Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Union of New South Wales (1901-1908), the Steam Crane Engine Drivers' Society of New South Wales (1901-1910), the New England Engine Drivers' Association (amalgamated in 1908), the Amalgamated Engine Drivers' Association of Tasmania and the United Certificated Engine Drivers' Association of Victoria. It was deregistered in 1949 but formed again in 1950 under the same name. It was amalgamated with the Construction Forestry and Mining Employees' Union and the Operative Plasterers' and Plaster Workers' Federation of Australia in 1992 to form the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. The union represented engine drivers and firemen, crane drivers, dynamo and boiler attendants, forklift drivers and plant operators in hospitals, abattoirs, dockyards, brickworks, mines, power stations and factories.

Name of creator

(1915 - 1993)

Biographical history

The Federated House and Ship Painters, Paperhangers and Decorators Employees' Association of Australasia became the Operative Painters and Decorators of Australasia in 1915. In 1918 it changed its name to the Operative Painters' and Decorators' Union of Australia. Seventy-five years later, the union amalgamated to form the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in 1993.

Name of creator

(1925 - 1992)

Biographical history

The Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia initially consisted of an amalgamation of the New South Wales and Tasmanian plasterers' unions. It changed its name to the Operative Plasterers' and Plaster Workers' Federation of Australia in 1960. In 1963 the South Australian, Western Australian and Queensland plastering unions joined the Federation but the two Victorian plasterers' unions remained separate. The union amalgamated with other construction and mining unions in 1992 to eventually become part of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in 1993.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Minutes of Builders' Labourers' Federation Federal Council and Management Committee (1964-1993) and Federal Conference (1965-1979), of the Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia/Building Workers' Industrial Union Building and Plasterers Division Executive (1924-1989), of the Operative Painters' and Decorators' Union Executive (1946-1979) and Management Committee (1951-1992), of the Federated Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Association Federal and State Council (1927-1991) and of the State Executive of the Construction and General Division of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (1992-1995), membership records of the South Australian branch of the Operative Painters' and Decorators' Union (1950-1990), subject and arbitration files, photographs of FEDFA committee (1915), Cyclone Tracy cleanup 1975 and union tour of USSR in 1970s, and audiovisual material (Paul Robeson concert).

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Conditions governing access

Researchers must sign an access agreement

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Dates of creation revision deletion

Entered from deposit description 5 October 2012

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