The Birth of an Organising Union

On Saturday 2 February 1901, a
meeting of trollymen, draymen, and
carters was held at the Trades Hall in
Sussex Street, Sydney, ‘with the object
of establishing a union’.
The attendance was, according to a
newspaper report, ‘exceptionally large’.
Forming a union of drivers of ‘Sydney
and the suburbs’ was an idea whose
time had come. Over 500 drivers
signed up to join the new union.
The meeting was chaired by William
Morris Hughes, the energetic and
ambitious Labor member of the New
South Wales Parliament. Hughes
represented the seat of Lang, which
covered the working class districts
around western Sydney harbour, where
many of the union’s members lived and
worked.
Hughes observed that ‘during the past
few months Australia had experienced
unprecedented activity in labour
circles’, and he added that ‘such an
enthusiastic response as the men had
made was very flattering to those who
set the movement for a union on foot.’
The assembled men flattered
themselves by putting their faith in
one another. They voted to establish
‘a temporary management committee,
consisting of one representative from
each yard’, who would ‘carrying on the
initial business of the union.’
It was also decided that ‘for the first
three months of the union’s existence
no officers should be paid. The
entrance fee for joining the union was
to be one shilling, and the subscription
for membership was set at six pence
per week for the first three months.
The Trolly, Draymen and Carters’
Union would be firmly based in
the organisation of its rank and
file members, supported by the
broader labour movement, including
the members of Parliament who
encouraged the union’s formation.
‘A union among the class of workers
4 The Birth of an Organising Union