H. A. Turner and “Australian Labor's Closed Preserve”: Explaining the Rise of “Closed Unionism” in the Broken Hill Mining Industry

Ellem, Bradon; Shields, John

doi:10.1080/10301763.2000.10669231

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Industrial struggles against racism date back at least to campaigns by Darwin waterside workers before World War Two against Dutch imperialism in Indonesia, to union support for Aboriginal workers from Noonkambah to Wave Hill, and to the actions of Broken Hill miners in the inter-war period. These all call into question current ahistorical and teleological assumptions that the adoption of 'enlightened' and 'educated' attitudes is a recent phenomenon (Lockwood 1982;Hawke and Gallagher 1989;Riddett 1997;Martinez 1999;Ellem and Shields 2000). In contrast, this article suggests that, far from being universally hostile, labour movement attitudes towards immigrants have always had a fluidity and indeterminacy not often acknowledged in the historiography of racism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

War, Racism and Industrial Relations in an Australian Mining Town, 1916–1935

Gregson

2007

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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The goldmining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia has been the site of race rioting on three occasions — in 1916, 1919 and 1934. These outbursts have typically been examined as separate events, but, analysed together, they provide an opportunity to see racism, and anti-racism, as historical and social processes. In all these riots, returned soldiers, organised by a leadership often drawn from the officer class, played a significant part in harassing migrants and promoting White Australia. Through this lens, an important corrective to the dominant explanation of the White Australia policy is suggested. While most historians of Australian racism portray immigration restriction as a demand successfully won by the labour movement in defence of white workers' jobs, the Kalgoorlie race riots expose a distinctly conservative case for employer ‘divide and rule’, anti-migrant propaganda and racist violence. Concomitantly, the local labour movement found that racial division among their ranks was a recipe for industrial defeat.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

War, Racism and Industrial Relations in an Australian Mining Town, 1916–1935

Gregson

2007

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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“…The BIC also presided over a very special geo‐politics of labour, which took four forms. It defeated the left‐wing unionists at every turn in establishing this regime (Kimber, 2001; Ellem and Shields, 2000). First, the BIC developed a unique local system of collective bargaining for all unions which was all but independent of the national and state arbitration tribunals regulating the formal working conditions of almost all other Australian workers.…”

Section: Mine Community and Unionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This provides a perfect example of labour defining space and exercising power within it. The unions defined the very geography of the local, the local labour market, along with its gender structure (Ellem and Shields, 2000; Howard, 1990, pp. 87‐9).…”

Section: Mine Community and Unionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contested communities: geo‐histories of unionism

Ellem

2008

Journal of Organizational Change Management

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PurposeDespite being increasingly touted as the kind of fundamental transformation needed for union survival, “community unionism” is typically ill‐defined and poorly explained. This paper seeks to provide greater precision of terminology and context through a series of geographically‐informed historical studies.Design/methodology/approachThrough explaining and synthesising the work of a number of scholars from different disciplines, the paper develops a framework for a “geo‐historical” analysis. It begins not with community unionism as such but with a more open exploration of the relationship between unions and social formations at, for the most part, the local scale. Empirical material, based on original qualitative studies, is presented for one industry, Australian mining, across different places and time periods but concentrating most upon the iron ore regions in Western Australia where recent struggles over union renewal and form have been particularly intense.FindingsThis paper argues two things about community unionism: that this union form is not without historical antecedents and, more importantly, that its structure, nature and prospects can be better understood if analysed through a number of concepts which geographers have recently developed to explore the intersections between work, community and employment relations. More needs to be done to explain not only the nature and emergence of community unionism but also the very real problems it faces in sustaining itself, let alone transforming union movements overall. The findings point to the varied forms which so‐called community unionism may take as well as to the challenges to its current forms, including from within the labour movement itself.Originality/valueThe value of the paper lies in its theoretical innovation, drawing on a range of disciplines, and its attempt to situate community unionism precisely – conceptually, historically and geographically.

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Unions, community, work and family in Australia’s iron ore sector

Ellem

2015

Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic rel

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H. A. Turner and “Australian Labor's Closed Preserve”: Explaining the Rise of “Closed Unionism” in the Broken Hill Mining Industry

Cited by 5 publications

References 13 publications

War, Racism and Industrial Relations in an Australian Mining Town, 1916–1935

War, Racism and Industrial Relations in an Australian Mining Town, 1916–1935

Contested communities: geo‐histories of unionism

Unions, community, work and family in Australia’s iron ore sector

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