Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union
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| Full name | Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1906 |
| Affiliation | ACTU |
| Key people | Brian Crawford, Federal Secretary Grant Courtney, Federal President |
| Office location | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Country | Australia |
| Website | amieu.net |
The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, better known as the Meatworkers Union, is an Australian trade union, registered with the AIRC and affiliated to the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The AMIEU was formed in 1906 as the Federated Butchers Union, and changed its name to the AMIEU in 1912. Its registered industrial coverage (per the 1906 registration) is "Butchering Meat Refrigerating and kindred industries." (1906 AMIEU registration) The AMIEU elects all officials from the rank and file for four year terms, excepting the Federal President and Secretary who are elected by a collegiate system.
The AMIEU was organised between 1906 and 1920, particularly in Queensland, by the revolutionary union the Industrial Workers of the World. The IWW, or Wobblies, encouraged Meatworkers to set up boards of control on job sites. These boards functioned, effectively, as works councils in the Meat industry. The boards were particularly strong in North Queensland where, under the direction of state organiser Walter Russell Crampton, they controlled production levels through direct action. Meat industry sheds in North Queensland were so effectively organised that the sheds became closed shops. This was known in the day as Preference of Employment. (1911 AMIEU Preference of Employment contract, AMEIU history, page 2)
The AMEIU used the skilled portion of the workforce, the slaughtering gang, to infiltrate non-union towns in North Queensland. These towns were essentially company towns. The slaughtering gang was irreplaceable due to their skill, they were mobile as their skill was in demand across multiple shops, and they were militant. The AMIEU considered itself an industrial union and enrolled all workers in a particular workplace regardless of their trade—the meatworkers represented boilermakers, engine drivers and maintenance workers who worked in the meat industry.
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