The Australian Union Movement

Trade Unionism in Australia was not only widespread and strong by the beginning of the 20^th Century, it provided the foundation on which the Labor Party was built.

In Australia, (most) people had freedom of association (unlike the English), and the right to go on strike and withdraw labour had not been outlawed in Australia.

Few Australians wanted to see Britain’s class system replicated here; it’s one thing to give entrepreneurs a higher income as a reward for the risks they take, and quite another for people to have privileges simply because they were born into the upper classes.

A great deal of the Union movement’s early support for a White Australia Policy grew from a determination not to let anyone work for less than an agreed minimum wage. Anyone – regardless of race – prepared to undercut wages was, and is to this day, ostracised as ‘scab labour’.

The determination to keep Australia white was partly good old fashioned racism, and partly a fear that ‘foreigners’ would accept lower wages. Of course, when a community is ostracised for any reason, they can’t be expected to feel any sense of loyalty to the majority group, so the fear of wages being undercut was a self-fulfilling prophecy (or karma).