One hundred and fifty years ago this week about 80 brick layers, plasterers, stonemasons, carpenters and labourers (most likely all men) met to set up the Newcastle Eight Hours Committee, the forerunner to Newcastle Trades Hall Council, what we now call Hunter Workers.
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When Hunter Workers meets these days, however, you will find not only a wider occupational spread with representation from nurses, teachers, shop assistants, crane drivers, miners, maritime workers, disability support workers, public servant, but also more women delegates.
What has stayed the same since 1869 is the need for a shared voice for our region's workers.
As Rod Noble describes in Of Human Right and Human Gain, in 1883 the shared voice of workers was heard as hundreds of unionists, watched by thousands of supporters and onlookers, marched in Newcastle demanding 'eight-hours work, eight-hours leisure, eight-hours sleep.'
The 'eight hours of leisure' gave workers and their families the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives and increase their capacity to more fully participate in society through activities such as education and sporting clubs.
The campaign for shorter work hours reflected the union movement's vision of society and quality of life which went beyond a world view based purely on the idea of capitalist profit. A shorter working week also shared the available work around among unemployed workers.
As the eight-hour movement grew, the idea that the region's unions should have a base for organising their 'voice' won support to the extent that institutions such as this newspaper, for example, in 1885 proposed the erection of 'a large and commodious hall for purposes purely connected with trade union matters'.
Fittingly, the Trades Hall Council building, which was finished in 1895, was alongside the Hunter Street Technical College that had opened in 1885.
Over the past 150 years, Hunter Workers has continued to be a voice for regional needs and a broader social vision encompassing health, education, heritage, peace, and campaigns such as Raise the Rate.
It was unions who raised the alarm about workplace health and safety, issues such as silicosis and asbestosis, for example, when the big end of town was reassuring workers that there was nothing to worry about.
Many of the health and educational facilities in our region are the result of the initiatives and practical work of Hunter Workers and its affiliated unions.
It was Hunter Workers and residents acting together who preserved our city's heritage in places such as Newcastle East.
Similarly, without Hunter Workers, voices calling for peace, third world solidarity, socialism, and support for treasured public institutions and utilities, would have found it much harder to be heard.
In 2019, many of the issues that Hunter Workers face are similar to those they faced in 1869.
While unions eventually won the eight hour day, workers are now losing it through unpaid hours of work, particularly unpaid overtime.
As we've all seen recently, despite 150 years of employment law, unscrupulous employers still get away with stealing workers' money.
Despite 150 years of employment law, unscrupulous employers still get away with stealing workers' money.
Instead of constantly making calls to criminalise trade union activities, the Morrison government should be focusing on the real crime wave: the wage theft occurring in our country.
According to the Australia Institute, $116 billion are stolen from Australian workers a year through unpaid superannuation, unpaid overtime and withheld allowances.
Why isn't the government doing something about this, rather than pursuing its Ensuring Integrity Bill? Currently before parliament, this bill purports to be about union governance in hard-hat unions.
The reality is that union membership in Australia now is predominantly female and not in hard-hat unions. So those affected by this bill will include child-care workers demanding equal pay, nurses demanding safe staffing ratios in emergency wards, campaigners to have domestic violence and paternity leave in their awards, and long-serving casual workers needing permanency.
Rather than legislation eroding union rights, our society needs the restoration of the rights of unions in workplaces so that all of us receive our entitlements, wages, superannuation, a safe workplace and the pay increases the economy now needs.
Congratulations Hunter Workers on 150 years. We still need your vision of a more just society to make our region stronger.
Dr Steve O'Brien is a delegate to Hunter Workers for the Public Service Association.
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