Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia

Identity area

Type of entity

Trade union

Authorized form of name

Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

        Identifiers for corporate bodies

        Description area

        Dates of existence

        1890 - 1993

        History

        The first waterside workers' unions in Australia were formed in Port Adelaide, Sydney, and Sandridge (Port Melbourne) in 1872. By 1889 there were notable waterfront unions in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Although the various unions federated in March 1890 the Waterside Workers' Federation was not established until 7 February 1902 with Mr William Morris Hughes (Prime Minister of Australia, 1915-1923) elected its first President. The Waterside Workers' Federation was registered under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act on 1 July 1907 and the first comprehensive Commonwealth award for waterside workers dates from 13 December 1915. In January 1914 an office of the Waterside Workers’ Federation was established in Melbourne. After 1939 the Federation was located in Sydney. In order to manage the Waterside Workers' Federation Branches the Federal Executive, in 1902, established a Committee of Management (COM). The COM comprised delegates from the Executive of each Branch, and each Branch was entitled to one member for every 500 financial members. Furthermore, any of the COM’s resolutions that were approved by less than a 3/5 majority had to be submitted to at least 500 financial members of the rank and file for endorsement. Although designed to ease interstate rivalries this method of decision-making often exacerbated tension. The structure of the Waterside Workers' Federation remained largely unchanged until 1950 when it absorbed the Permanent and Casual Wharf Labourers' Union of Australia. In 1991 the Waterside Workers' Federation amalgamated with the Australian Foremen Stevedore Association but retained the name Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia. In 1993 the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia joined with the Seamen's Union of Australia to form the Maritime Union of Australia.

        Places

        Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania

        Legal status

        Functions, occupations and activities

        Representation for wharf labourers

        Mandates/sources of authority

        Internal structures/genealogy

        General context

        Relationships area

        Related entity

        Australian Foremen Stevedores' Association (1914 - 1991)

        Identifier of related entity

        Category of relationship

        temporal

        Dates of relationship

        Description of relationship

        Related entity

        Brown, Freda Yetta (1919 - 2009)

        Identifier of related entity

        Category of relationship

        Associated with

        Dates of relationship

        Description of relationship

        Related entity

        Fingleton, Glen Harold James (1911 - 1965)

        Identifier of related entity

        Category of relationship

        associative

        Type of relationship

        Fingleton, Glen Harold James is the associate of Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia

        Dates of relationship

        Description of relationship

        Glen Fingleton was a member of the Sydney mechanical branch of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia.

        Access points area

        Subject access points

        Place access points

        Occupations

        Control area

        Authority record identifier

        Institution identifier

        Rules and/or conventions used

        Status

        Level of detail

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

        Entered from deposit description, November 2012

        Language(s)

          Script(s)

            Sources

            Australian Trade Union Archives website atua.org.au. For more comprehensive information see 'Wharfies: a history of the Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia' / Margo Beasley. Rushcutters Bay, N.S.W. : Halstead Press in association with the Australian National Maritime Museum, 1996. ISBN 1875684182 and 'Ship to shore : a history of Melbourne's waterfront and its union struggles' / written by Rupert Lockwood for Melbourne Branch, Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia. Sydney : Hale & Iremonger, c1990. 0868064033 : 0868064041 (pbk.)

            Maintenance notes