The Birth of an Organising Union

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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Hearn, Mark, 1959- Title: The birth of an organising union / Mark Hearn. ISBN: 9780646925639 (paperback) Subjects: Trolly, Draymen and Carters’ Union--History. Transport Workers’ Union of Australia. New South Wales Branch--History. Transport workers--Labor unions--New South Wales--History. Labor unions--New South Wales--History. Other Authors/Contributors: Transport Workers’ Union of Australia. New South Wales Branch, issuing body. Dewey Number: 331.881138809944 Printed by: Novocastrian Print Management Design: Southland Media Pty Ltd. Published by the Transport Workers’ Union of New South Wales, 31 Cowper St Parramatta 2014 ©Transport Workers’ Union of New South Wales, 2014
Foreword In 2013 the Transport Workers’ Union celebrated 125 years of organising transport workers in New South Wales. The Birth of an Organising Union has been produced in recognition of that achievement. The Trolly, Draymen and Carters’ Union was first formed in 1888. However the young organisation was not able to survive the harsh tests of economic depression, and hostility from employers and governments during the early 1890s. The Birth of an Organising Union focuses on the union’s revival in 1901, a year that marks the reorganisation of the union that became the modern Transport Workers’ Union. 1901 also provides a vivid snapshot of the working lives and living conditions faced by trollymen, draymen and carters and their families in the rough and tumble conditions around Sydney’s Darling Harbour precinct, the area of West Sydney, as it was then known, and where the union first organised its members. 1901 was also a time when Australia officially became a nation, and the labour movement began to grow in both industrial and political strength, leading to the world’s first Labor government in 1904, and the formation of other Labor governments in New South Wales and the Commonwealth soon afterwards. The Trolly, Draymen and Carters’ Union played a vital role in building this future. Without the dedicated service and sacrifices of those workers, union delegates and officials, the Transport Workers’ Union would never have been able to
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Page 6 and 7: develop as the powerful voice of tr
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Page 10 and 11: On Saturday 2 February 1901, a meet
Page 12 and 13: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February
Page 14 and 15: * 1888: First attempt to unionise F
Page 18 and 19: The suburbs that folded around Darl
Page 20 and 21: Smokestack soot mingled with the pu
Page 22 and 23: Pyrmont Bridge at the turn of the c
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Page 26 and 27: Across 1901 the records reveal the
Page 28 and 29: Not all work: the union’s fundrai
Page 30 and 31: Eight Hours and Safe Rates In 1901
Page 32 and 33: When the Trolly, Draymen and Carter
Page 36 and 37: In December 1901 the labour movemen
Page 38 and 39: TWU South Coast banner 32
Page 40 and 41: The hazards of carting heavy loads
Page 42 and 43: ‘The carriers are trying to combi
Page 44 and 45: The controversial Billy Hughes 38
Page 46 and 47: themselves to be manipulated by thi
Page 48 and 49: A fitting tribute to a reborn union
Page 50 and 51: The Trolly, Draymen and Carters’
Page 52 and 53: a lorry, with a work-man making the
Page 54:
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