Waterside Workers Federation of Australia
| Full name | Waterside Workers Federation of Australia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1902 |
| Date dissolved | 1993 |
| Merged into | Maritime Union of Australia |
| Country | Australia |
The Waterside Workers Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered in 1907; its first general president was Billy Hughes.
In 1993 the WWF merged with the Seamen's Union of Australia to form the Maritime Union of Australia.
The Waterside Workers Federation of Australia traces its roots to the formation on the Australian waterfront in September 1872 of two unions in Sydney, the Labouring Men's Union of Circular Quay and the West Sydney Labouring Men's Association, which merged ten years later to form the Sydney Wharf Labourers' Union. In 1884 the Melbourne Wharf Labourers' Union was formed with the support of Melbourne Trades Hall representatives, after shipowners refused to allow waterfront workers to attend Eight-hour Day celebrations. With Federation in 1901 and the impending introduction of an arbitration system, the national Waterside Workers Federation of Australia was formed in 1902 under the leadership of Billy Hughes. Hughes had been a member of federal parliament and became Prime Minister in 1915. Hughes was expelled from the party and the union in 1916 over conscription in Australia and then formed the Nationalist Party to continue in government.
In 1917 the War Precautions Act 1914 was used to defeat a waterside workers nationwide strike by the passing of a regulation that deprived the Waterside Workers Federation of preferences in seven of the busiest ports in Australia.
From about 1900 to the 1940s, work on Melbourne wharves was obtained through the bull system of labour hire where workers would be hired on a daily basis at a pick-up point, and which was prone to corruption. (See Wailing Wall.) In Sydney, workers would walk from wharf to wharf in search of a job, often failing to find one. (See The Hungry Mile.) In 1917, waterside workers went on strike over the issue of the pick-up and demanded the establishment of a single central pick-up point at the Flinders Street Extension and that their remuneration should include the time taken to travel to and from their assigned ships. The impending arrival of strikebreakers from Sydney resulted in the calling off of the strike and abandonment of the dispute about a central pick-up. The strike action led to the formation in 1917 of the Permanent & Casual Wharf Labourers Union of Australia in opposition to the Waterside Workers Federation.
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