Broken Hill Combined Unions

Description

Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsTrade UnionsHistoryThe C.U.C. was created to represent and protect a number of Broken Hill unions in arbitration matters. It secured Tom Mann as union organiser in 1908 and began a period of intense negotiation that culminated in the Broken Hill Lockout over the union's resistance to the inadequate wage structure organised by BHP and other companies. Tensions escalated when the mine was closed down on 21 December and unions refused to work. Fifty police were brought in to end the picket line on 4 January. Mann's arrest with 27 other strikers galvanised the city into a sense of outrage and 15,000 unionists protested. Negotiations broke down and the dispute dragged on until May after BHP appealed to the High Court after the Federal Arbitration Court had handed down the award in favour of the unions. The C.U.C. eventually won on principle but BHP disc ontinued underground operations over the next two years. The Lock-out was the pivotal conflict in the realisation of Broken Hill trade unions and the formation of the Barrier Industrial Council.

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University of Melbourne Archives

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Broken Hill Combined Unions