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The Queensland Journal ofLabour History

No.4, March 2007

ISBN 1832-9926

EDITORIAL John Kellett 3ASSLH President’s Column Lucy Taksa 5BLHA President’s Column Greg Mallory 7REPORTFlames of Discontent concert Jan Nary 9ARTICLESGeorge Lawson and the originsof the Queensland branch ofthe Transport Workers Union Manfred Cross 13

Fruitless Endeavours: theGenesis of the Bjelke-PetersenGovernment’s persecution ofTrade unionists in Queensland,1976-77 Murray Johnson 20INTERVIEWHughie Williams: General Secretaryof the Queensland branch of theTransport Workers Union John Kellett 30BOOK REVIEWLabour Law and Labour Market Christopher Arup et. al.Regulation (reviewed by Janis Bailey) 36

CONTRIBUTORS 39

NOTICEBOARD 40

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EditorialJohn Kellett

This fourth edition of the Queensland

Journal of Labour History celebrates 100

years of the existence of the Transport

Workers Union in Queensland.

On 17 December 1906 a group of men who

earned their living by driving horse-drawn

vehicles around Brisbane met at the

Commercial Hotel in the city. By the end

of the following year these men had

gathered some 600 drivers into the Trolley,

Draymen and Carters’ Union, under the

leadership of George Lawson. Through

100 years of continuous existence, and via

several name changes, it was this union

which became the modern Queensland

branch of the TWU.

An article by Manfred Cross outlines the

early history of the union and provides a

biographical sketch of George Lawson.

Through his involvement with the Labor

Party and his efforts to re-establish a

Brisbane Trades and Labour Council in the

early-1920s, Lawson occupied a place at

the very centre of the Queensland labour

movement. After 23 years leading the

union, Lawson won the federal seat of

Brisbane in 1931. He had had his political

blooding in local politics and as one of the

‘suicide squad’ of MLCs who voted the

state’s Legislative Council out of existence

in 1921. Lawson held his federal seat until

his retirement in 1960, aged 80 years.

Manfred Cross is well placed to provide

this sketch of Lawson, for it was Manfred

who replaced George Lawson as the Labor

Member for Brisbane in 1961.

Murray Johnson’s article focuses on the

TWU in the 1970s and the Bjelke-Petersen

government’s persecution of trade union

activists. Murray documents how in the

Mandarin Case one of the state’s major

transport industry employers was able, with

the backing of the government, to ruin the

working life of a TWU delegate. Murray

then discusses the Zaphir Case, where we

read of the government’s success in

transforming what should have been a

simple industrial dispute into criminal

proceedings involving the Criminal

Investigation Branch and the District

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Court. TWU organiser, Hughie Williams,

had been marginally involved in the

Mandarin Case; the Zaphir Case set a

precedent that the Queensland Criminal

Code could be used against union

organisers; Murray Johnson’s third case

study narrates the circumstances under

which Hughie Williams, in carrying out

his duties as a union organiser, came to

the attention of the CIB and almost fell

victim to the Criminal Code.

The Brisbane Labour History

Association has a special relationship

with the TWU as the union’s Queensland

Secretary, Hughie Williams, has been

patron of the Association since 2003. In

an interview which is reproduced in this

journal, Hughie reflects on the changes

which have occurred within the TWU

and within the broader labour movement

during his 43 years involvement with the

union.

Readers will also find book reviews and

notices of coming events in the calendar

of the Association and the wider labour

movement.

I am very pleased to edit an edition of

the Queensland Journal of Labour

History which is devoted to the history

of a trade union. By promoting an

awareness of the history of unions, the

Brisbane Labour History Association is

directing attention to a fundamental

aspect of the human condition, namely,

the urge to organise ourselves into groups

for mutual protection. It is this urge

which is at the heart of the sense of

community which informs civilised

society and which led to the creation of

the first trade unions. In the present age

of ascendent neo-liberal political and

social agendas there is a compelling need

to identify and celebrate the forces and

institutions which unite us in our

endeavours to live a civilized existence

in an increasingly uncivilised world. The

present edition is a small step in that

direction.

This edition of the Journal would have

never reached publication without the

technical assistant of Belinda Eastgate,

an administrative assistant in the School

of Economics at the University of New

England.

Thank you Belinda.

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SUBSCRIBE TO LABOUR HISTORY –THE NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEASSLH

Labour History (ISSN: 0023 6942) is an internationally recognised journal and part ofthe prestigious History Co-operative of the University of Illinois. It is published twice ayear, in November and May, by the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History –a non-profit organisation to which the Brisbane Labour History Association is affiliated.

Members of the BLHA who are not already receiving Labour History are encouraged tosubscribe – the full rate for individuals is $50.00 (concession rate for students/unwaged is$35.00). Rates are kept relatively low as ASSLH is a non-profit organisation. New subscribersto Labour History receive the current year’s journals and a free back issue of their choice.

The support of the journal by individual subscribers makes it possible for Labour History tocontinue to promote and publish labour history research in Australia and beyond. Pleasesend for the Guidelines if you are interested in contributing to the journal.

A series of articles on Co-operation and the Politics of Consumption appeared in theNovember 2006 issue of Labour History contributing to our understanding of co-operativesand their role in past and present Australian society. These authors include Patmore andBalnave, Cutcher and Kerr, and Darnell. Also in November: A Look at the Right and the ALPbetween 1917 and the Early 1930s (Kirk); a piece on John Bernard Sweeney QC (Shaw);Workplace Activism in the NSW Branch of the FEDFA (Westcott); the Teaching Service(Married Women) Act 1956 (Dwyer), and more.

You can subscribe from the secure website – www.asslh.org.au; or by faxing your creditcard details to (02) 9371 4729; or by posting a cheque made out to Labour History or creditcard details to: Labour History, Economics & Business Building H69, University ofSydney NSW 2006

Enquiries: Tel: 02 9351 3786 Fax: 02 9351 4729

Email: Margaret Walters at m.walters@econ.usyd.edu.au

Contents, abstracts and prices of back issues are available at the web site www.asslh.org.auor on application to m.walters@econ.usyd.edu.au

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Federal ASSLHPresident’s Column

Lucy Taksa

It gives me great pleasure to bring youthe second edition of the ‘President’sColumn’, which aims to keep Branchmembers of the Australian Society forthe Study of Labour History (ASSLH)in touch with activities of the Society andacquaint them with the members of theFederal Executive. In the first‘President’s Column’, President RaeFrances introduced members to thestructure and functions of the Societyand provided an update of recentactivities in 2006. Unfortunately, Rae didnot renominate for the position ofPresident at the 2006 Annual generalmeeting. I would like to take thisopportunity to thank her for the work shedid as President and especially for herlong-standing commitment to theSociety over many years. We all owe hera debt of gratitude for her active role inpromoting the Society and its interests.Likewise I would like to acknowledgethe contribution made by two other long-standing members of the FederalExecutive who did not seek re-election.Bruce Scates and Mark Hearn have bothdemonstrated immense dedication torepresenting and promoting the Societyto organisations devoted to history andalso the labour movement. I would like

to wish them all the best in their futureendeavours. Below I will take thisopportunity to introduce you to themembers of the Federal Executive for2007, who were elected at the AnnualGeneral Meeting of the Federal Society,held 24 November 2006.

On this occasion, the President reportedon a number of critically importantdevelopments. The first was the decisionto use funds from author’s royalties fromarticles published in the Society’s journal,Labour History, to finance the BedeNairn Fund in order to help cement therelationship between the FederalExecutive and the Society’s Branches.Three Branches, including your own andthe WA and Illawarra Branchessuccessfully applied for grants from theFund to support new initiatives and I willbe pleased to provide further details onthese in a subsequent report. In 2006, RaeFrances announced that $2000 would beset aside for 2007.

During the year, the Federal Executivewas informed of the intention to establisha new ‘virtual’ Branch in the NorthernRivers region of NSW to be co-ordinatedby Rosemary Webb. Its aim is to

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NOTICEBOARD

‘Women’s Labour’: September 2007Issue of The Queensland Journal of Labour History

This issue will be devoted to various aspects of ‘women’s labour’. Articles are sought onwomen’s involvement in unions, and in social justice organisations concerned (directly orindirectly) with women’s labour issues. Articles should be a maximum of 3 000 to 4 000words, and shorter pieces are most welcome. These can be first person accounts orresearch articles. Accompanying photographs and other visual material are also welcome(if available).

Articles will be due by the end of July, but a short summary of your article by the end ofMarch is required.

The issue is being edited by Janis Bailey, Department of Industrial Relations, GriffithUniversity, j.bailey@griffith.edu.au, tel (07) 5552 7748. Please contact Janis if you havean idea for an article as she would love to discuss your idea with you.

CONFERENCEThe Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch, in associationwith the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology are hosting the

10th National Labour History Conference: LABOUR TRADITIONS

on 4-6 July 2007 at the University of Melbourne and the historic Melbourne Trades Hall.

As the labour movement in Australia is resisting a sustained attack from a hostile FederalGovernment, it is time to explore the resilience and fragility of labour traditions. The 10thNational Labour History conference will feature themes on trade union mobilising,working-class culture, the Cold War, workplace safety, the centenary anniversary of thefounding of the IWW in Australia, the Spanish Civil War debate 70 years on, the centenaryanniversary of the Harvester decision, the Waterfront Dispute nine years on, and muchmore. Details can be found on the Melbourne Branch website: http://www.asslh.org.au/melbourne or by contacting Julie Kimber jkimber@swin.edu.au or Peter Loveplove@swin.edu.au

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overcome the problem of distance thatseparates labour historians in the regionby providing a means of communicationthat will help to promote the ASSLH andits interests. Also during the year theASSLH re-affiliated with theInternational Conference of LabourHistorians (ITH) based in Linz, Austria.ASSLH members attended ITHconferences in the past and those whoattend in future will have their fees paidby the ASSLH.

Perhaps the most significantdevelopment was the resolution by theFederal Executive to form a committeeto review the ASSLH constitution. It hasbeen many years since the constitutionwas amended and many new issues anddemands have arisen, not the least ofwhich are problems relating to insurancecoverage for activities and event. Thefirst meeting of the new executive, held15 February 2007, raised the possibilityof restructuring the organisation as partof the constitutional reform process toensure closer relations with the branchesand to deal with issues like insurance.

The following officers and executivemembers were elected to the FederalExecutive for the remainder of 2006 and2007:

President: Lucy Taksal.taksa@unsw.edu.au

Vice President: Greg Patmoreg.patmore@econ.usyd.edu.au

Secretary: Nikola Balnaven.balnave@uws.edu.au

Treasurer: Harry Knowlesh.knowles@econ.usyd.edu.au

Executive Members: Tony HarrisTony.Harris@unsw.edu.au;Andrew Moore, Melanie Oppenheimerm.oppenheimer@uws.edu.au

Branch Representatives:

Adelaide - Louise Millerpdewhurst@esc.net.au

Brisbane - Greg Mallorygmallory@vtown.com.au

Canberra Region - Bill Tullywllmtully@yahoo.com.au

Illawarra - Mairi Petersen -mairigeorgep@bigpond.com

Melbourne - Peter Love -pjlove@infoxchange.net.au

Northern Rivers, NSW - Rosemary Webbrosemary.webb@scu.edu.au

Perth – Bobbie OliverBobbie.Oliver@curtin.edu.au

Sydney - Sidgrid McCauslandsigridmcc@optusnet.com.au

See biographies of ASSLH Executiveon page 38.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Janis Bailey is a lecturer in the Department of Industrial Relations at Griffith University. Herresearch interest include union strategy and culture. Before moving to Queensland in 2002,she taught at the University of WA and Edith Cowan University, and was variously secretary,editor and committee member of the Perth Branch of the Australian Society for the Study ofLabour History. She worked as a union industrial officer in the 1980s and 90s for variousblue- and white-collar unions in Perth.

Manfred Cross held the federal seat of Brisbane for the ALP from 1961 to 1975 and againfrom 1980 to 1989. He has been a Member of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland,the Royal Society of Queensland, the Australian and New Zealand Association for theAdvancement of Science, the Royal Geographical Society, the Queensland Council forAboriginal Advancement, and the Royal Institute of Public Administration. Since his retirementfrom federal politics he has been Chairman of the Library Board of Queensland.

Murray Johnson has taught Australian history at the University of Queensland, the AustralianNational University and the University of Tasmania. He has published widely in many fieldsof Australian history, including a biography of leading Queensland trade unionist HughieWilliams. Currently a Research Fellow at the Brisbane Institute, he is conducting a series ofheritage studies on proposed dam sites in south-east Queensland.

John Kellett was secretary of the BLHA in 2003/4, when he taught industrial relations atGriffith University. In 2001 he published a history of the Queensland branch of the TWU,entitled A Fighting Union. He currently teaches IR and Australian economic history at theUniversity of New England.

Greg Mallory is an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Industrial Relations at GriffithUniversity. His book, Uncharted Waters: Social Responsibility in Australian Trade Unions,was published in 2005. He is currently working on a history of the Queensland Coal Miners’Union and a history of rugby league in Brisbane. Greg is president of the BLHA.

Jan Nary is a former national media spokesperson for Choice magazine and a presenter onABC Radio Queensland. She is now a freelance publicist, occasional journalist, a regularcontributor to Trad&Now magazine, and publicist for the National Folk Festival. Jan is alsoa member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

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BLHAPresident’s Column

Greg Mallory

In December the Association held itsAGM with Andrew Vickers, GeneralVice-President, CFMEU Mining andEnergy Division as guest speaker. Themeeting was well attended and a numberof important matters were discussed. Iwould like to thank Connie Healy for herwork as Treasurer in 2006. Connie hasdecided to step down from this position.Connie has been actively involved in thelabour movement all her life and I wishher well in the future. I would also liketo congratulate Ted Riethmuller on hisLife Membership of the BLHA. As Istated in my speech, Ted has contributedgreatly in making the BLHA a vibrantlabour history organisation in Brisbaneand I thank him for all his work. I wouldalso like to congratulate the TWU on itscentenary. This edition of the journal hasbeen dedicated to this union. Our Patron,Hughie Williams, has devoted most ofhis life to making the TWU a strong andviable organisation. I would lastly liketo thank John Kellett for accepting theresponsibility of Editor of this volumeof the QJLH. John is a former Secretaryof the BLHA and author of a book onthe history of the Queensland Branch ofthe TWU.

IncorporationOne of the most significant items thatthe AGM discussed was theincorporation of the Association. It hasbeen decided that this will go ahead assoon as possible. The Executive will beconsidering a report on procedures at itsnext meeting. Because we are a branchof the ASSLH, ‘incorporation’ in theState of Queensland raises a number oflegal issues. In my capacity as FederalExecutive member of the ASSLH, Ihave been elected to a Federalcommittee of the Society to considerchanges to the Federal constitution. Inthe next few months both the BLHA andFederal ASSLH will be in a position topropose changes to the respectiveconstitutions at general meetings of bothorganisations.

Rekindling the Flames of DiscontentIn September the Association hosted aconference/dinner/concert on the themeof the labour movement and the folkmovement. I would like to thank theorganising committee for their work aswell as all the performers and helperson the day, who made the event such anoutstanding success. In particular Iwould like to single out Dale Jacobsenfor all her work over a six month periodprior to the event. There is much

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Brief Biographical Profiles of Members of the ASSLH ExecutivePresident: Lucy Taksa was Head of the School of Organisation and Management until 2006 when she wasappointed Associate Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, UNSW. She is Directorof the UNSW Industrial Relations Research Centre and was appointed Chair of the State Records NSWBoard in February 2007. Her current work focuses on labour and industrial heritage and the history ofSydney’s Eveleigh railway workshops. Between 1994 and 2004 she was an Associate Editor of LabourHistory and until late 2006 she was the Vice President of the ASSLH.

Vice President: Greg Patmore is Editor of Labour History, and Director of the Business and LabourHistory Group, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney. He serves on the governingcouncil of the History Co-operative, based at the University of Illinois. With Ray Markey, Greg is investigatingthe history of non-union employee participation and he is also currently working with Harry Knowles andJohn Shields on a commissioned history of Citigroup in Australia. Greg is currently Chair of the disciplineof Work and Organisational Studies in the School of Economics and Business. He has been Editor ofLabour History since May 1999 and was also Treasurer between 2002-2006. He served as President for anumber of years prior to 2002.

Secretary: Nikola Balnave is a senior lecturer in the School of Management at the University of WesternSydney. She completed her PhD in 2002 on Industrial Welfarism in Australia, and has published a numberof journal articles and conference papers on this topic. Her current research is focussed on Rochdale consumerco-operatives, and their historical and contemporary significance to regional Australia. Nikki has beenactive in ASSLH Sydney Branch, and has served on the Editorial Board as a Trainee, but this is her first yearas an office bearer in the Federal Executive.

Treasurer: Harry Knowles lectures in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies in the School ofBusiness at the University of Sydney. He is co-author (with Mark Hearn) of One Big Union: A History of theAustralian Workers Union 1886-1994 (1996) and has a particular interest in labour biography and tradeunion leadership. Harry became an associate editor of the journal during 2006.

Executive Officer: Tony Harris is currently teaching Australian and labour history in the School of Historyand Philosophy at UNSW. His book, Basket Weavers and True Believers: making and unmaking the LaborLeft in Leichhardt Municipality c1970-1991, will be published in April this year. Tony has been an AssociateEditor of Labour History and member of the Editorial Board since 2005.

Executive Officer: Andrew Moore is an associate professor of history at the University of Western Sydney.His most recent book is Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist, Australian Legend (2005). Andrew has served onthe Editorial Board, the Federal Executive and on the Sydney Branch Executive since the protests againstthe logging of the Sahara Forests. He is also a long term member of the New South Wales working party ofthe Australian Dictionary of Biography and chair of the Tom Brock Bequest Committee which promotesthe scholarly study of rugby league.

Executive Officer: Melanie Oppenheimer is a Senior Lecturer and teaches twentieth century Australianhistory at the University of Western Sydney. She has published numerous articles on aspects of unpaidlabour, volunteerism and war. Her book, All Work, No Pay: Australian Civilian Volunteers in War (2002)was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards in 2003. Her most recent publication is: Oceans ofLove: Narrelle: An Australian Nurse in World War I (2006). Melanie has served as Associate Editor on theEditorial Board of Labour History since 1999 and has been a member of the Federal Executive since 2002.

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discussion over a short and long termfollow-up to this event and the Executivewill be discussing this at its next meeting.Our guest for the day was the 93 yearold Wally Stubbings, a veteran ofworking-class struggle in Brisbanethrough his involvement with theWaterside Workers Federation and theCommunist Party of Australia.

PlanningAt its next meeting the Executive willbe considering a number of eventsproposed for the next few years. In 2007a number of smaller events have beenproposed, namely a seminar on the Ekkaand a seminar on the New Left. Ifmembers wish to propose an event couldthey please contact the Secretary, TedRiethmuller. In relation to long termplanning, discussions have been takingplace with various organisations to runthree major events in 2008/2009. Theseare:

A major conference on trade unionismand the environment. Janis Bailey haspresented a brief report to the EditorialCommittee of Labour History forpapers to be published in a specialedition of that journal.

A conference on ‘Sport and Working-class Culture’. This conference wasoriginally planned to go ahead this year,but at this stage we are looking at 2008.The Australian Society for SportsHistory (ASSH) has endorsed theconference and discussions have takenplace with Noel Butlin Archives inCanberra who would give us somesupport. There is also a possibility thatLeeds Metropolitan University (UK) willsupport it.

A major labour/folk event ofinternational standing. There has beenongoing discussion about where to goafter our successful ‘Rekindling theFlames of Discontent’ event inSeptember. Bob and Margaret Fagan,Mark Gregory, Margaret Walters andothers have been considering variousoptions. One idea is to have a smallerevent this year featuring Brisbane peoplein order to keep the momentum going.The Queensland Folk Federation (QFF)supported us financially for this eventand Bill Hauritz, the Woodford FolkFestival Director, hopes to see thisproject continue. I had informal talkswith him at Woodford this Festival and Iwill be seeing him in the next few monthsto see how we can develop a relationshipwith the Festival.

I wish all members and supporters aproductive New Year, a year in whichindustrial relations will be one of themain political issues confronting theAustralian public.

publi

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to those interested in industrial relations,such as industrial tribunals, unfairdismissal, trade unions as ‘regulators’,and occupational health and safety. Itincludes less familiar topics, such aswelfare reform and the gaps betweenlabour and social security law, and labourlaw/labour regulation approaches to themore ‘atypical’ worker such as thevolunteer and the ‘unauthorised’ worker.There are interesting chapters on thehousehold, on the regulation of thefamily through employee entitlements,and that touch on EEO requirements.

Those with a critical interest in the waysin which business governs our lives inunseen ways will find much of interest.Because the book’s approach takes abroad view of ‘what is regulation?’ thereare chapters on how business contributesto labour market regulation, and manyof the contributors problematise howemployers grapple with their legalobligations – or fail to do so. Forinstance, the book deals with a range ofissues relating to the internal dynamicsof firms (such as supply chainoutsourcing and business franchising),good faith and fair dealing at work, andhow business regulates key issues suchas OHS and EEO.

Queensland contributors include BLHAmember Margaret Lee (on the regulationof bargaining systems), and colleaguesat Griffith University: RichardJohnstone, Graeme Orr, Michael Barryand Emeritus Professor Peter Brosnan.

This book is not for the fainthearted: at38 chapters (running to 750 pages) by atotal of 39 distinguished scholars from 12Australian universities as well as anumber of practitioners, it is notparticularly a bedside read (nor is itdesigned to be), and its cost puts it beyondthe range of many.

However, this is an invaluable book foracademics (legally oriented or not), viaits fresh approach which relocatestraditional labour law scholarship in anew frame which will expand academics’horizons when thinking about theirresearch, or about teaching.

For practitioners and those with a generalinterest in industrial relations and labourhistory, dipping into the book providesinsights into a range of areas, helping‘join the dots’ between previouslyunconnected areas of scholarship andraising all sorts of fascinating issues. Abook like this comes along only rarely:its editors and authors should becongratulated for this show of strength.Don’t be put off by its length: the authorsof this scholarly and important book willforce all of their readers to see thesesubjects anew.

BLHA Secretary Ted Riethmullerwas awarded Life Membership ofthe Association

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Rekindling the Flames ofDiscontent

Conference and Concert

23 September 2006

reviewed by Jan Nary

Named after an album issued in 1979 bythe Seamen’s Union of Australia duringthe Utah Dispute, this one-day eventwas organised by the Brisbane LabourHistory Association to celebrate the linksbetween the labour movement and folkmusic. Held in the East Brisbane BowlsClub, it combined an afternoonconference and an evening concert andattracted close to ninety participants.

Dr Robert V. Anderson OAM (UncleBob), an Elder of the Ngugi people, gavethe Welcome to Country on behalf of thetraditional landowners, the Coorparooclan of the Jagera nation. A former shipspainter and docker and Building WorkersIndustrial Union organizer, he recalledparts of his youth spent in the area andsome of the local working class history.He shared memories of jogging downfrom his mother’s house to the saltwaterbaths at the north end of Mowbray Parkand the band playing in the rotunda onSundays; of nearby Forsythe’s Ropeworks, where the rope making shedstretched for nearly two residentialblocks and of the “green hat” raffles(held for the local maritime branch of

the Communist Party of Australia),named after the hat the tickets weredrawn from in the local pub, now TheShafston.

Greg Mallory, President of the BLHA,opened proceedings with observations onthe fading trade union presence in somebig folk festivals, citing the CFMEU’scontinuing support of the National FolkFestival as an encouraging and naturalliaison. The need to reunite the festivaland trade union movements was a topicexplored at length in the forum held laterin the afternoon, chaired by SenatorClaire Moore.

Doug Eaton gave the first presentationof the afternoon, a fascinating, first-handinsight into the life, work and times ofJohn Manifold. Communist, poet, writer,singer, bush instrument maker, folk songcollector and founder of Bandicoots (theManifold family band plus friends,including Doug), Manifold wasCambridge educated and had worked forsome time in Africa. He once remarkedthat “all we gave Africa was corrugatediron, bully beef and syphilis”.

Ross Gwyther from the NTEU (NationalTertiary Education Union), spoke of hislifelong interest in working people’smusic, how it reflected and grew out ofworking class struggle. He recounted anighttime demonstration against arailway shipment of uraniumyellowcake. Knowing that they couldn’thalt the shipment the handful of

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Review of

Labour Law and LabourMarket Regulation

by Christopher Arup, Peter Gahan,John Howe, Richard Johnstone,

Richard Mitchell andAnthony O’Donnell (editors)

Federation Press, Sydney, 2006.

$125.00, hardback, 752 pp.

Reviewed by Janis Bailey

At a time when public policy in the areaof labour law and labour marketregulation is receiving an active airingas the new Workplace Relations Act 2006(aka ‘WorkChoices’) rolls out, this is atimely scholarly collection that examinessome fundamental issues in the arena ina fresh way.

The book is the fruit of a number ofdistinguished Australian scholars in thefield. It has been carefully devised by theeditors to include some key theoreticaldebates, as well as to examine many ofthe issues that are encompassed within thelabour law/labour market regulation area.

One of the key theoretical debatesconcerns the boundaries of labour law.This book extends beyond a focus on therights and responsibilities in theemployment relationship, to broaderissues about labour market regulation,work and family life, corporategovernance and globalisation. As theboundaries of what constitutes an‘employee’ become more permeable(witness the recent new Federal legislationon independent contractors and the furoreit has generated) the field of labour law iswidening its scope, and coming to gripswith new issues.

Another key theoretical debate with whichthe book grapples concerns the need totake a broader socio-legal perspective tothe thorny issues of labour law and labourmarket regulation, rather than focusingmore narrowly on legal reasoning aboutformal legal issues such as case law. Thebroader view can integrate thinking onissues such as the intersections betweenindustrial relations law, welfare law andfamily law which may (for example)affect single parents. Traditional legalscholarship puts all these things in boxes,whereas this book seeks to understandthese issues in tandem. Work, as thepublisher’s blurb says ‘extends waybeyond the workplace gate’.

Given these kinds of theoretical concerns,the subject matter of the various chaptersis very broad. It includes topics familiar

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protestors were feeling defeated untilGeoff Wills started singing “We ShallOvercome”. The group took up the songand suddenly there was a new meaningand energy rekindled as the power ofsong was writ large in their hearts.

Bob and Margaret Fagan spoke of theRealist Writers of Sydney and itspublication The Realist Writer (later TheRealist). With John Manifold as editor,the publication attracted some of thegreat left-wing writers of the day,including Judah Waten, Helen Palmer,Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley. Boband Margaret spoke of poems that hadbecome songs, often being set totraditional tunes, and gave stirringrenditions of a selection that includedtwo poems by Dorothy Hewett :“Norman Brown”(to the tune of “CollierLaddie”), and “Where I Grew to Be aMan” (commonly known as “Weevils inthe Flour”) both of which are oftenmistakenly attributed as traditionalsongs. They closed with Denis Kevan’stribute to the Green Bans, “Monuments”,to which Bob wrote the tune.

Another member of the NTEU andBLHA committee member, Janis Bailey,gave a talk on researching unions andshared some personal anecdotes. Sheintroduced Bernard Carney’s “StandTogether” (sadly, only on CD) then MarkGregory took the floor to talk aboutcollecting and disseminating music aboutworking class struggle.

Mark is working on a Masters Degreecalled “Sixty Years of Australian UnionSongs” based on his research for theMUA centenary CD “With These Arms”and the growing collection of songs andpoems on his Union Songs website(www.unionsongs.com). Describinghimself as “a hunter of union songs”,Mark shared the work from the books andwriters he has unearthed in his research.One of these was the almost unknownwharfie poet Ernest Antony whopublished his “The Hungry Mile andOther Poems” in Sydney in 1930.Another was the miners’ poet JockGraham. He cited the work of poet andwriter Bartlett Adamson, author of acollection called “Peace and Friendship”,whose work inspired Denis Kevans’ inhis large number of four line poems, andspoke of the contribution to the folkcanon of the IWW (Industrial Workersof the World, aka the “Wobblies”). Thehard-hitting poetry generated by the endof the Second World War was illustratedthrough the Dorothy Hewett and MervLilley collection “What About thePeople” published in Brisbane in 1962.Mark’s long interest in union songs wasreignited by the plethora of songs andpoems that flooded into his Union Songscollection during the Patrick Dispute in1998. He also spoke of the difficulty inhaving working class poems and songspublished, since those who controlpublishing houses also control what theydeem “worthy” of our attention, and arestill affected by the Cold War amnesiathat refused to regard political poetry andsong as worthy of study.

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QJLH: Now that employees inworkplaces of fewer than 100 workershave lost their right to take an unfairdismissal case to the Commission, howhas the union been dealing with cases ofunfair dismissal?

HW: In order to deal with this, we as aunion have to be rock solid, so thatbosses know that if they are going todismiss anyone unfairly they will haveto deal with the union. We had one caserecently in a small depot – we called astop work meeting on the footpathoutside the workplace, and by threeo’clock that afternoon the state managerof that organisation came to theworkplace and reinstated the worker.That exercise really wound the clockback – we can still do what ever we wantto do, as long as we’re clever about it.But some of the better organised, biggercompanies would straight away go to theCommission to get orders against theunion, and if we breached those ordersthere would be massive fines on theunion. We’ve got to outsmart thesescurrilous bosses who want to dismisspeople unfairly – we’ve done it beforeand we’ll do it again.

QJLH: The latest legislation placessevere restrictions on workers’ right tostrike, to put limitations or bans onnormal work practices, and even to havestop work meetings. Yet you have beenable to hold stop work meetings. Is thisbecause some bosses simply don’t knowwhat the new laws say?

HW: Yes, that’s right. Not every boss isgoing to run off to the Commission,simply because they don’t know that theycan. So we have to use our musclewherever we can. The real danger is inthe larger firms which can afford betterlegal advice and have the expertise to puta case to the Commission.

QJLH: The High Court decision ofNovember 2006 means that the Howardgovernment is now free to go ahead andtake over the state industrial relationssystems. What difference will theabolition of the state system make to theQueensland Branch of the TWU?

HW: I think the biggest problems will bein the rural Shire Councils – because thesewill come under the corporationsprovisions of the WorkChoices legislation.I think some of the conservative ShireClerks in the rural areas will be some tothe worst to deal with, and councilworkers will be in a lot of trouble.

QJLH: Thanks for talking to theQueensland Journal of Labour History,Hughie.

HW: You’re very welcome.

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Margaret Walters and John Warner sang asong written by John which powerfullyevoked the atmosphere of the picket lineat Penhryn Road during the 1998 MUAstruggle, and the whole conference joinedin the stirring chorus of “MUA - here tostay!” They then presented another songof John’s set to an old hymn tune – “Bringthe Banners out Again”. A straightforwardand irresistible song, it bears all thehallmarks of John Warner’s genius: usingjust the right words and just enough ofthem. Powerfully and irrefragably honest,passionate and exquisitely singable it couldwell become the working class anthem ofthis age, a much-needed call to arms – andhope – for a disenfranchised and woundedworking class.

Sue Monk and Lachlan Hurse spoke ofthe songs of Latin America that hadcome out of working class experiences.They had everyone singing along to theclassic Cuban song “Guantanamera”,with Cuban Jose Marti’s words set tomusic by Joseito Fernandez, andrecorded and popularised by Pete Seegerduring the Cuban missile crisis. Theyspoke of the “new song” movement thatswelled through Chile after the electionof Allende in 1970, the collecting ofsongs from workers and peasants all overthe country that generated a new formof national music. They spoke of thenational singer / songwriter Victor Jara,who was arrested and had his fingersbroken so that he could not play again.

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Labor Party has a duty and an obligationto represent Australian workers – theLabor Party was born from the unionmovement – and to get rid of this unfairlegislation.

QJLH: Do you think that the LaborParty has the will to do that?

HW: I sometimes worry about that. Eventhough I’ve been a member of the ALPsince 1957, I’m very concerned that it isbecoming a more conservative party, thatit has grown too close to the businesscommunity. Some of the people currentlyin the Party need to be reminded of theParty’s working class origins – some ofthe candidates who have beenendorsement lately are a bloody disgraceto the labour movement. This has a lotto do with the damage done to themovement by ALP factions, which Imentioned before.

QJLH: The Howard government’sWorkplace Relations Act and the recentWorkChoices legislation weredeliberately intended to restrict theactivities of trade unions. I’d like yourviews on the extent to which theprovisions of this legislation haveimpacted on the TWU in Queensland.For instance, have the new limits onunion officials’ right of entry toworkplaces hindered the work of theunion?

HW: We are a little bit lucky in that wecan see a lot of our members outside oftheir workplaces. But it remains veryimportant that union official do go into

the workplace in order to make sure thatthings are working correctly – thatpeople have got their correct amenitiesand that proper safety procedures are laiddown. And the Queensland Laborgovernment under Peter Beattie has putin place legislation to give us right ofentry under occupational health andsafety provisions and this has allowedus to get around the limits on right ofentry under the Howard government’slegislation. So far, we are finding thatonly a limited number of employers aretrying to stop us from entering theirworkplaces, and we haven’t beenconfronted with a serious problem yet.We will always find a way to representour members.

QJLH: How has the union been dealingwith AWAs? Are many of the employersin the industry attempting to force theiremployees to sign AWAs? How has theunion dealt with this?

HW: You’d have to wonder why anytransport worker in Australia would signan AWA for less money than they’d getunder an enterprise bargainingagreement, but people do strange things.I think AWAs will become a problem inthe future, but for now we’ve been ableto lock in quite a few enterprisebargaining agreements for the next fewyears, but it is such clever legislation thatemployers can now simply sack all oftheir employees, or go through a labourhire company, so that the EBA doesn’tmean a thing any more, and they can thenput their new employees on AWAs.

The Fagans in full swing at the Flames ofDiscontent concert

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They recalled the military coup andbombing of the President’s Palace in 1973and the diaspora of Chilean musicians inexile, who brought to Australia their songsand their stories of the outrages. TheACTU placed a trade union ban onloading Chilean ships and while thepolitical scene has now shifted the musicof Latin America has won a permanentplace in Australia.

The conference then moved into a forumwhere the only thing missing was time.The forum discussed ways and means ofgetting people singing again, at rallies,marches and trade union gatherings; theneed for trade unions to access more grassroots singers for meetings; striking thebalance between booking big-namedrawcards for political events andbooking working class performers whosing from conviction born of experience;the creation of an e-list of folk who wouldbe happy to turn up and sing at trade uniongatherings; the vital role played by thetrade union choirs and the need for folkfestivals to nurture the links betweenmusic and working class movements.

Absolutely Scandalous performed duringdinner, while the evening concert featuredJumping Fences, Margaret Walters and JohnWarner, Mark Gregory, Jack Mancour,Tommy Leonard, Doug Eaton, theCombined Unions Choir, Bob and MargaretFagan and Sonia Bennett. Writer and activistDavid Peetz, from Absolutely Scandalous,also compered the concert.

A strong feeling came from the day that thisshould be done again as soon as humanlypossible, and that other States might considersimilar initiatives. Organisers, in particularDale Jacobsen, are to be congratulated foridentifying and addressing the real need toweave our working class cultures andorganisations back together. As John Warnersuccinctly put it: “You can encapsulatethings in a song in a more powerful andemotional way than in a speech. Whetheryour singing is good or bad we need to singtogether – there’s a cumulative power in thesheer weight of music created by peoplesinging in a group, reinforcing each other.Sometimes people out there don’t want tohear what our song says but we need to hearit.”

:

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HW: A few years ago I would have saidthat the best organiser is the person whohas come through the ranks of thetransport industry. But now I think thatthe law is so much more complex that itdoesn’t make sense to say that a personcould be a truck driver today and anorganiser or an industrial officertomorrow. If unions are going to survivewe need to employ people who areprofessionals – but, of course, many ofthese people can still come from the rank-and-file.

QJLH: The branch has many femalemembers, mainly in airport catering andcourier services. In the past decade or soyou have employed women in the rolesof Industrial Research Officer,Superannuation Officer, and Organiser,and the BCOM now has one femalemember. Has the union had to make anysignificant changes in order toaccommodate the growing number ofwomen in its membership, and in itsleadership ranks?

HW: Transport has traditionally beenconsidered a blokey industry, but we needto have a very open mind about this.Women in the transport industry work thesame as men and are treated the same asmen. Our present industrial officer, ournorth Queensland organiser and our callcentre operator are all women. So of our14 officials, three are female. I’vecertainly found that women can handleany of these jobs and are just as dedicatedas the men.

QJLH: In 1972 you stood for stateparliament for the ALP in the seat ofIthaca. And in the 1980s there was talkin some ALP circles of you taking a placeon Labor’s Senate ticket. Until the 1980sthere were many close links between theunion and the ALP – after federalintervention in the Queensland ALP inthe early-1980s you became Senior Vice-President of the Queensland branch of theParty, at the same time that you becamethe State Secretary of the Queenslandbranch of the TWU. What is the currentrelationship between the TWU and theALP?

HW: At the moment the union has itshands full with industrial matters, but theLabor Party remains very relevant to us.In particular, the next federal election willbe more important than any other electionwe’ve ever had. Right now I’m travellingthe state urging members to vote Laborin the next election so as to get rid of theharsh legislation brought in by peoplewho represent the employers.

QJLH: One day, sooner of later, the ALPwill regain control of federal parliament.When the new Prime Minister rings youup and says, “Hughie, what should wedo about the IR laws?”, what will be youradvice?

HW: I would want to go back to the statusquo, where there was decent legislation,where we in Queensland had the smallestnumber of hours lost through industrialaction. I’d say to the new PM that the

The Brisbane Combined Trade Union Choir performing at theFlames of Discontent Concert

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George Lawson and theorigins of the QueenslandBranch of the Transport

Workers’ Union

by Manfred Cross

An article in The Worker on 28November 1908 written by GeorgeLawson spells out the genesis of theTrolley, Draymen and Carters’ Union(TDCU), the union which was to becomethe Queensland Branch of the TransportWorkers’ Union (TWU). The firstmeeting took place in the CommercialHotel, Edward Street on 17 December1906 when a provisional committee waselected. On 6 May 1907 the newlyformed Carters’ Union marched in theEight Hour Day procession. In June 1907the unsatisfactory state of the union’saffairs led to a request to Matt McCabe,the energetic secretary of the Brisbanebranch of the Federated WatersideWorkers, to take over the duties ofSecretary. On 28 December 1907 TheWorker records a sea trip to Redcliffe onthe previous Sunday: ‘The union isprogressing nicely’. On 23 May 1908The Worker records a presentation toMatt McCabe for services rendered asHonorary Secretary and helping to firmlyestablish the union. McCabe hadresigned in April and a young driver,George Lawson, then aged 27years, waselected as the first paid secretary andorganiser. By November J Richards wasPresident and the union had 600members.

Who was George Lawson?

George was the seventh child in a familyof nine. His parents, Alexander and Ellen(nee Rilley) were both born in Drum,county Monaghan, Ireland, and arrivedin Moreton Bay by the ‘Legion ofHonour’ on 6 July 1864. By May 1869the Lawsons occupied a 42 acre block atWarner on the South Pine River. Withhard work Alexander established a dairyfarm and orchard, grew the family’s ownfood and had a surplus of vegetables andeggs for sale. All the children had theirown ponies and became competentriders. The children were baptisedPresbyterians and attended the SouthPine Methodist Church.

George Lawson was born on 14 August1880 at the farm and grew up in a securefamily environment. He came under theinfluence of two capable Head Teachers,was a keen student and received prizesfor his handwriting. At the age of 13 heentered employment in the boot trade fora few months and then commenced workwith R Jackson, a carrier in FortitudeValley, where his older brothers Jack andBill were already employed. The threebrothers drove three-horse lorries.

In 1901 George enlisted in theQueensland Imperial Bushmen. Hetrained at Lytton and as No. 102 PrivateGeorge Lawson, One Company, was paidfive shillings per day. The fifthQueensland contingent embarked forSouth Africa on 6 March 1901 on thesteam transport ‘Templemore’ with 529men and 476 horses. George saw action

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they want John Howard to be re-electednext year. But right now some terriblethings are also happening – I’ve had areport from members in Rockhamptonthat an employer there is offering driversa one month trial on $3 an hour. This isthe sort of thing that Howard’slegislation allows to happen.

QJLH: Compared to most unions, theTWU has maintained its membershipfairly well. How has this union been ableto do this when all around it unions havebeen losing members?

HW: We were doing better than mostother unions up until the last couple ofyears, but we’ve had a down turn in thelast year or so – nothing very significant– we’ve been able to hold ourmembership, but I don’t feel verycomfortable about the future. We’ve hadto adopt different tactics in order to tryand retain members. In the old days wehad the preference clauses in our awards,but now our union officials arebecoming more professional and betterat talking to potential members face toface – because this is the way that wewill survive as a union, by peoplehearing by word of mouth what theunion can do for them.

QJLH: Until 1999 the TWU’sOrganisers were elected by themembers, with additional Organisersbeing appointed by the BCOM forspecial projects, such as big recruitmentdrives. But since 1999 Organisers’positions have been advertised, and all

Organisers have been appointed, notelected. And from 2000, the Branch hasemployed a number of Organisers fromoutside of the union – even from outsideof the transport industry. Whatdifference has the appointment (ratherthan the election) of Organisers madeto the way in which the union goes aboutits business?

HW: To an extent, this change wasforced on us by the 1996 legislation –we had to become more professional.The problem with the old system wasthat, while someone might be a verygood organiser, they could fall out offavour with the members who electedthem, or the employers could mount acampaign against them – the better theseorganisers were at their jobs, the moreoutgoing and efficient they were, themore they could come under attack.Another problem was that factions coulddevelop between groups of organisers,and they could start playing politics fortheir own purpose. These sorts ofproblems were overcome by having theorganisers directly employed by theunion – they don’t have to fight electionsevery few years, they can put theirenergy into fighting the bosses, and theyare still responsible to the Secretary.

QJLH: How important is it these daysthat Organisers come up through thetransport industry? Or are the genericskills (like negotiating skills,communications skills, the ability toorganise and motivate people) moreimportant?

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in the Transvaal and Orange Free Stateand was mentioned in dispatches. Hisreference on discharge described him as‘a brave soldier and fine horseman’.Returning to Brisbane on 30 April 1902he returned to Jackson’s where he wassoon promoted to foreman.

On 16 January 1907 George marriedRebecca Jane Buchanan, a civil servant.Two sons were born, George Alexanderin 1908 and Leonard James in 1910. In1909 the family built a house in WickhamStreet, Newmarket.

1907: a year of ferment and changefor the Queensland Labor Movement

From September 1903 Queensland wasgoverned by a coalition of Liberals ledby Arthur Morgan and supported by the

Labor Party. When Morgan wasappointed President of the LegislativeCouncil, the Labor leader, WilliamKidston, became Premier. Kidston,however, was disenchanted with theSocialist Objective which had beenadopted two years earlier by theQueensland Labor Party. In March 1907the fifth Labor-in-Politics Conventionrejected Kidston’s leadership and thecoalition divided, leaving Labor on theopposition benches. On 13 April DavidBowman was elected Leader of the StateParliamentary Labor Party. The generalelection of 18 May 1907 saw womenvote for the first time in a Queenslandstate election and the result was:Kidstonites 24 seats; Labor 18 seats;Opposition 29 seats. Labor continued tosupport Kidston in office.

The Brisbane Carting Board Circa 1910

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other unions, although we can’t be asblatant as before.

QJLH: Have there been changes in theTWU’s attitude to and role within theQueensland TLC, now known as theQueensland Council of Unions?

HW: The QCU still plays a coordinatingrole, but a lot of unions have becomevery independent. This is because, undercurrent legislation, it’s not possible toorganise inter-union cooperation like wecould in the old days, especially becauseof the ban on secondary boycotts. So theTLC used to be able to play a leadingrole, but there is no such role availableto the Council of Unions now, so theirposition is not as strong as it used to be.

QJLH: Has the role of the Secretarywithin the TWU changed over the last40 years?

HW: The Secretary of any union nowhas to be very much a business personable to deal with the union’s finances,and to appear in the IndustrialCommission at any time, and has to bethe union’s main negotiator. The job ismuch bigger than it was 30 or 40 yearsago when the Secretary would rarelyappear in the Commission – theIndustrial Officer always used to do thatjob. The Secretary is the public face ofthe union and should have a lineconstantly open to the membership –you’ll find my number in the phone bookand I consider myself to be on call everyday of the year.

QJLH: Since the 1980s, the popularityof unions has declined around thecountry, so that in 2006 fewer than one

quarter of all workers belonged to aunion. What do you see as the reasonsfor this decline?

HW: Very, very clever legislation put inplace by the conservative government,particularly freedom of association,brought in by Peter Reith in 1996, andthe ban on secondary boycotts. Unionsare about the only organisations that nowhave to provide a service to people, butthose people don’t have to pay for thatservice. If you get on a plane, or you buysomething at the supermarket, you haveto pay, but if you work in a transportdepot and the TWU negotiates anenterprise bargaining agreement for you,and you might get a five percent payincrease and improved conditions, youdon’t have to join the union, but you stillget the advantages of that enterpriseagreement. So a lot of people with noprinciples will say, why pay union feeswhen I’ll get the benefits any way! AndI know of bosses who have urged theiremployees to not pay union fees, whohave told their non-union employees toput their money into their super funds,because the employees will get thebenefits of union membership anyway.

I had thought that union membership hadalready reached its lowest point, but now,with the new legislation, I think theremight be a further drop off inmembership. But eventually, in the longrun, I think the recent legislation willcause a growth in membership – becauseof the fear that the legislation isgenerating. Right now, most of the majoremployers are sitting back, not actuallyimplementing the legislation, because

1 5

Throughout these years, a major issue ofpolitical contention was the proposal fora Wages Board Act which would giveunions a continuing role in the negotiationof wages and conditions. It was becauseof the imminent passage of this Act thatthe TDCU and many other Queenslandunions were formed in 1907.

On 8 November 1907 Justice HB Higginsof the Federal Arbitration Court broughtdown the Harvester Judgement whichestablished for the first time a federalbasic wage. In the absence of acomprehensive Industrial ArbitrationCourt in Queensland before January1917, Queensland unions were attractedto the Federal Arbitration Court and forthis reason the Trolley, Draymen andCarters’ Union had amalgamated with theNSW and Victoria-based FederatedCarters and Drivers’ Industrial Union(FCDIU) in 1909.

Another major event in September 1907was the foundation at Irvinebank of theAmalgamated Workers’ Association ofNorth Queensland with Edward GranvilleTheodore as secretary and organiser. By1911 the AWA had 11,000 members andwas the largest union in the state, withTheodore as President and WilliamMcCormack as General Secretary. Bothof these men were to become Premiersof Queensland. Two years later the AWAamalgamated with the AustralianWorkers’ Union. The AWU was tobecome the TDCU’s (later the TWU’s)main rivals for members in the transportindustry.

George Lawson in local and statepolitics: 1916 to 1921

As a resident of Newmarket, GeorgeLawson was a member of the NewmarketWorkers’ Political Organisation, as thelocal branches of the Labor Party werethen known. With the WPO’sendorsement, he was elected asAlderman for the West Ward of theWindsor Town Council on 5 February1916. In 1919 he was re-electedunopposed and held his seat until July1921 when a massive swing againstLabor unseated many aldermenthroughout the metropolitan area.Lawson’s career in local politics seemsto have prepared him for a role in theLegislative Council.

Since the nineteenth century theLegislative Council, which wasnominated by the government of the day,had formed a conservative barrier againstdemocratic, enlightened and progressivereforms. Appointments were for life andusually came from the ranks of thecolony’s squatters and business leaders.The Council regularly rejectedlegislation endorsed by the electorate inpolicy speeches by Liberal and Laborleaders alike. From 1893 the Laborplatform had included abolition of thisnominee chamber, and from November1915 the Ryan Labor government soughtto abolish the Council.

The assault on the Council commencedin October 1917 when Governor Goold-Adams appointed 13 members to ensure

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Interview withHughie Williams

by John Kellett

The following is an edited transcript ofan interview with Hughie Williams, theGeneral Secretary of the Queenslandbranch of the Transport Workers Union.Hughie joined the TWU in 1964, wasfirst elected as an organiser in 1972, andserved as State Secretary from 1982 to1984 and again from 1992 until thepresent. He is Patron of the BrisbaneLabour History Association. Thisinterview was recorded in December2006.

Queensland Journal of LabourHistory: I’d like to ask you about themajor changes in the union during your43 years of involvement. First, has theemployers’ attitude to the union changedin that time?

Hughie Williams: There has been verylittle change in the attitude of the majortransport employers so far – we’vealways had a reasonably goodrelationship with them. But where therehas been change is in the attitude of whatI refer to as transport operatingscoundrels. They are tougher to dealwith. They have sniffed the fact that thereis new legislation that will help them out,and I think that they are becoming harderto deal with.

QJLH: Are you seeing evidence of thatalready?

HW: Yes, they’ve certainly got their tailin the air at the moment. There’s nothingwe can really put our finger on, butthere’s a general attitude amongst manyof the smaller operators that they can getaway with anything now.

QJLH: Has the TWU’s relationship withother unions changed in the past 40years?

HW: I’d say that there hasn’t been a greatdeal of change. Factions within the ALPhave done a great deal of harm. Thesefactions still have a big impact on therelationship between unions, and a lot ofunion energy goes into supportingparticular factions. But a lot of people inunions seem to forget that we are here tofight for the working class, and that weshouldn’t be putting all our energy intogetting a particular person intoparliament, because sometime the wrongperson might get in. And all of the battlesbetween the factions tend to spread acrossto trade union officials and sometimes torank and file members.

QJLH: What about the TWU’srelationship with other unions in thetransport industry?

HW: Any union that rings me personallywith a problem, they get immediate help.We’ve still got very good relationshipswith other unions, but things are not aseasy as they used to be. For example, withsecondary boycotts, we used to be ableto stop trucks going into and out of worksites where there was industrial actiongoing on. Even though that’s no longerpossible, we still do what we can to help

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the elected government could form aquorum. Then in August 1919 GeorgeLawson and two others were appointedto replace deceased members.

In February 1920 William Lennon,Lieutenant Governor and a formerMinister in the Ryan government,appointed 14 members who were allpledged to abolish the LegislativeCouncil. This now gave Labor amajority in the Council for the first time.It was not, however until 17 October1921 that the new Premier, EdwardTheodore, introduced a bill to abolishthe Council. After debate, the secondclause which actually abolished theCouncil was carried by 51 votes to 15,the Country Party voting with thegovernment. On 27 October theLegislative Council adjourned for the

last time. It remained for Royal Assent tobe given. With a favourable report fromGovernor Sir Matthew Nathan, KingGeorge V gave his assent on 22 March.Proclamation on the following day gaveeffect to what the historian Denis Murphyhas described as the most important singleconstitutional reform in Queensland’shistory.

Being a member of the ‘suicide squad’ wasa badge of honour in the labour movement,a badge which George Lawson wore withpride. When he died in 1966, Lawson wasthe sole survivor of Queensland’sLegislative Council.

George Lawson as Union SecretaryI do not propose to deal with the detail ofGeorge Lawson’s role as Secretary of theUnion, nor with the significant part he

Rockhampton branch of the Federated Carters andDrivers Union, May Day, circa 1914

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5 S. Blackwood, ‘Doomsday for theQueensland Labour Movement? TheSEQEB Dispute and Union Strategy’,Politics, Vol.24, No.1 (May 1989), p.71.6 Courier-Mail [C-M] (Brisbane), 4 June1977, p.3.7 M. Johnson, No Holds Barred − HughieWilliams: Olympic Wrestler and TradeUnion Heavyweight (Rockhampton, Qld:Central Queensland University Press,2003), p.45.8 Quinlan, Miller & Treston, Solicitors, toSolicitor-General, Comalco House,Brisbane, 1 June 1977, Hughie WilliamsPapers [hereafter HWP].9 Sunday Mail [SM] (Brisbane), 5 June 1977,p.3.10 C-M, 4 June 1977, p.3.11 Noel Gilby, Inala, to A. Bevis, StateSecretary, Transport Workers’ Union,Brisbane, 3 June 1977, HWP.12 SM, 5 June 1977, p.3.13 Ibid.14 L.C. Ryan, General Manager, BellFreightlines Pty Ltd, to A. Bevis, Secretary,Transport Workers’ Union, 15 July 1977,HWP.15 Johnson, No Holds Barred, p.4616 C-M, 8 June 1977, p.4.17 C-M, 10 September 1977, p.3.18 Telegraph (Brisbane), 9 September 1977,p.9.19 C-M, 10 September 1977, p.3.20 P. Gerbert, ‘Criminal Law and Procedure− Intimidation − Threatening to cause adetriment − Criminal Code (Q.), s.359’,Australian Law Journal, Vol.52 (1978),p.154.21 C-M, 6 September 1977, p.3.22 SM, 4 September 1977, p.5.23 Queensland Parliamentary Debates[QPD], Vol.273 (1977), p.30.

24 Circular authorised by F. Whitby,Secretary, Trades and Labor Council ofQueensland, 13 September 1977, HWP.25 QPD, Vol.23 (1977), p.469.26 C-M, 15 September 1977, p.1.27 C-M, 16 September 1977, p.1.28 Transcript ‘R v. Zaphir, Court of CriminalAppeal, 12-14 October and 15 December1977’, p.186, HWP29 ‘Report of Organiser Williams’, 23March 1977, HWP.30 Transcript of interview by DetectiveSergeant O’Sullivan and Detective Watson,Brisbane CIB, 23 August 1977, HWP.31 ‘Confidential Memorandum from A.Bevis, Secretary, to All Officials’, 23August 1977, HWP.32 A. Bevis, State Secretary, TWU, toMessrs Quinland, Miller and Treston,Solicitors, Brisbane, 23 August 1977, HWP.33 A. Bevis, State Secretary, Brisbane, to I.Hodgson, Federal Assistant Secretary,Transport Workers’ Union, Melbourne, 8August 1977, HWP.34 Sunday Sun (Brisbane), 7 August 1977,p.3.35 ‘Confidential Memorandum from A.Bevis, Secretary, to All Officials’, 23August 1977, HWP.36 Telegraph (Brisbane), 30 August 1977,p.1.37 ‘Confidential Report by State Secretary,A. Bevis’, 31 August 1977, HWP.38 Johnson, No Holds Barred, p.52.39 ‘Report by Secretary, A. Bevis’, 9September 1977, HWP.40 QPD, Vol.273 (1977), p.727.41 C-M, 3 June 1977, p.10.42 QPD, Vol.273 (1977), p.323.43 A. Metcalfe, In Their Own Right: TheRise to Power of Joh’s Nationals (StLucia, Qld: University of QueenslandPress, 1984), pp.83-84.

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played in the establishment of theQueensland Trades and Labor Council,both of which are comprehensively dealtwith in A Fighting Union by John Kellett(Boolarong Press, 2001). I will, however,make some general comments.

Reports in The Worker and the DailyStandard show Lawson to be an efficientand energetic secretary and organizer.After his Brisbane-based union affiliatedwith the Federated Carters and DriversIndustrial Union in 1909, he representedthe FCDIU at the first Queensland TradeUnion Congress in 1910 and atsubsequent Congresses. In October 1912he brought about the amalgamation ofseven carters’ unions from regionalQueensland under the leadership of theBrisbane branch. He attended the firstfederal conference of the FCDIU inAugust 1909 and maintained a role in theFederal Council of that union until 1932.

Lawson was a competent administratorcarefully building the union’s resources.He moved the union’s office from theMaritime Hall to the Trades Hall in July1911 and three years later he oversaw theunion’s affiliation with the QueenslandLabor Party.

The union established its credentials withthe trade union movement by its supportfor the AWA in the sugar workers’ strikein August 1911 and by joining the strikecommittee for the Tramway and GeneralStrike from January to March 1912.

From April 1918 George Lawson wasinvolved in two committees whichwere intended to facil i tate anamalgamation of Queensland unionsunder the banner of a new Trades andLabour Council. In January 1922 aproposed constitution was circulated tounions. On 23 February at a meetingbetween the Brisbane Trades HallCouncil and the Labour DayCommittee, Lawson moved aresolution for immediate amalgamationwhich led to the inaugural meeting ofthe Queensland Trades and LabourCouncil on 12 April 1922. He wasVice-President of the TLC in 1922 and1923, President in 1924/5 and fromFebruary to July 1927. In all, he servedon the TLC Executive from 1922 to1932. Lawson was strongly opposed tothe Communist Party and an advocateof their expulsion from the Trades Hall.A further achievement on 23 July 1930was for George Lawson to be electedby the Queensland Trades and LabourCouncil as one of its two delegates tothe ACTU Executive.

In March 1925 Lawson was elected asAustralia’s union representative to theSeventh Session of the InternationalLabor Organisation of the League ofNations at Geneva. He returned on 23September. The ILO’s main businesswas the Workmen’s Compensation(Occupational Diseases) Convention.This was a great honour for Lawsonand for the Queensland labourmovement.

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Criminal Code. While his actions wereconsidered by conservative politicians tobe nothing less than ‘stand-overtactics’,40 the legality of aggressiverecruitment was a very fine line indeed− and one that could be used on both sidesof the labour divide. In the same year thatZaphir was hauled through two courtcases the Melbourne Tramways Boarddismissed a conductor who had refusedto become a member of the TramwayEmployees’ Union.41 From the tradeunion perspective, the issue turned on theright of organisers to carry out theirduties. In the case of Zaphir, Williamsand Rose this meant recruitment, but asillustrated by the ‘Mandarin Case’ itcould also mean protecting unionmembers from unwarranted harassmentand persecution.

One thing was certain: the Bjelke-Petersen government used these issuesfor political purposes. A tougher stanceagainst the trade union movement wastaken in the aftermath of thecxonservatives’ resounding electoralvictory in 1974. The next election wasscheduled for 1977, and with no firmpolicies in place the government had toat least be seen to be doing something.Kev Hooper of the ALP was under noillusion the entire crusade had beenengineered solely for political gain:‘Because the government is bereft ofpolicies,’ Hooper told parliament, ‘it willmanufacture a sham campaign for theforthcoming election and it has pickedon union-bashing because it thinks thatis a good subject.’42

Despite the 1977 election being a lessspectacular success for the conservative

coalition than their win three yearsbefore, they still held an overwhelmingmajority. Labor did manage to win threeseats from the Nationals and four fromthe Liberals, but it fell a long way shortof what was required to regain office.Indeed, the Nationals considered thattheir seats had been lost solely throughthe poor performance of their coalitionpartner in three-cornered contests. Theremay have been some truth in this, for theLiberals had tended to distancethemselves from their coalition partnerafter Premier Bjelke-Petersen made anumber of embarrassing off-the-cuffremarks on wider issues during thecampaign.43 The Liberals had still lostfour seats of their own but, importantly,the coalition had survived intact. Thiselectoral victory also meant that ‘union-bashing’ would occupy an importantplace on the Bjelke-Petersengovernment’s platform in the future, andwhen coupled with a denial of generalcivil rights it ensured that resistancewould not only continue − it was set tobecome increasingly violent.

References1 P. Charlton, State of Mind: WhyQueensland is Different (North Ryde,NSW: Methuen Haynes, 1987), pp.123-24.2 H. Lunn, Joh: The Life and PoliticalAdventures of Johannes Bjelke-Petersen(St Lucia, Qld: University of QueenslandPress, 1978), p.203.3 D. Townsend, Jigsaw: The Biography ofJohannes Bjelke-Petersen (Brisbane:Sneyd & Moreley, 1983), p.342.4 J. Kellett, A Fighting Union: A History ofthe Queensland Branch of the TransportWorkers’ Union, 1907-2000 (Moorooka,Qld: Boolarong Press, 2001), p.146.

1 8

In August 1926 the FCDIU changed itsname to the Amalgamated RoadTransport Workers’ Union and in 1939it became the Queensland branch of theTransport Workers Union.

George Lawson’s official connectionwith the union he did so much to createended when he was elected MHR forBrisbane on 19 December 1931. Hissuccessor as Secretary was AlfredMilton.

George Lawson MHR for Brisbane1931-1961

On 19 December 1931 the Scullin Laborfederal government was defeated in adevastating swing in every state exceptQueensland where the unpopularity ofthe Moore Country National stategovernment saw Labor returned withtwo additional federal seats and all threeSenators.

George Lawson defeated ColonelDonald Cameron, a pastoralist with adistinguished war record, and Brisbane’sNationalist Member since 1919. Lawsonwas subsequently returned in the nexteleven elections and he was neveropposed for pre-selection.

Serving as Whip from 1934, he waselected to the Ministry in the first Curtingovernment and served as Minister for

Transport and Assistant to thePostmaster-General. After the 1943election Lawson, then aged of 63, losthis place in the Ministry to ArthurCalwell. George then served on theImmigration Advisory Committee and in1945 was again elected to the ILOConference, this time in Paris.

As the local member, George Lawsonworked hard in the Brisbane electorateand is remembered for his campaign fora new General Post Office for Brisbane.

In 1947 he moved in caucus to increasethe size of the Commonwealthparliament, which took effect in 1949.Over the next 14 years he enjoyed therole of the elder statesman of theparliament.

With Pat Hanlon, I had the privilege ofdirecting Lawson’s last campaign in1958 when he scraped home with 18%of the Queensland Labor Party (later theDLP) preferences.

George Lawson was loyal to theprinciples and policy of his party andforthright in expressing his views. Adevoted family man, his interests outsideof the labour movement were reading, hisgarden and a modest bet on the horses.

27

at the end of which the two employeesjoined the TWU after marking theirrespective application forms ‘underprotest’.32 Up to this point bothencounters had been routine unionmatters of no great significance − but asit turned out, it was just the beginning.

On 5 August 1977, the day followingEdward Zaphir ’s first trial inToowoomba, State Secretary of the SPU,Fred Nichols, telephoned HughieWilliams to warn him that he would soonbe interviewed by police over the affairat Queensland Express Haulage. Nichols’informant was a serving member of thepolice force.33 While no names werementioned, the Brisbane pressannounced two days later that a numberof union officials were currently underpolice investigation,34 though it was notuntil 23 August that Williams was finallyinterviewed by two officers of the CIB.35

His name was made public on 30 August,when the Brisbane Telegraph announcedthat the TWU organiser was likely to bethe second union official charged underthe Queensland Criminal Code. Thedecision on what charges were to be laid,however, would not be known until afterthe conclusion of Edward Zaphir’ssecond trial.36

The following day Raymond Hines, thedelivery driver who had arrived duringWilliams’ first altercation at QueenslandExpress Haulage, was interviewed bypolice. He contacted TWU StateSecretary Arch Bevis immediately

afterwards and advised him that thepolice had been adamant that they hadnot been responsible for the press releasenaming Hughie Williams, and nor werethey particularly anxious to lay anycharges against the TWU organiser.37

Clearly, the strings were being pulledfrom a much higher level, though theydid advise Hines that he would beinterviewed again at a later date. Thatproved to be beyond their power.Although aware that Hines had changedemployment and was currently workingfor the biscuit manufacturer, ArnottMorrow, the police did not know thatArnotts management and staff wereequally supportive of the TWU. Thus,every time the police arrived to interviewHines he suddenly disappeared;unbeknown to the police he was veryclose by, hidden amongst pallets ofbiscuits.38

While this cat-and-mouse game was inprogress, Fred Nichols of the SPU wasnotified by his informant that FrankRose, an organiser of the FederatedEngine Drivers and Firemen’sAssociation, was also being investigatedby police.39 Yet neither Williams norRose were ever charged, and althoughrumours of impending legal action hungover their heads for some timeafterwards, this particular anti-unioncrusade by the Bjelke-Petersengovernment slowly ground to a halt.Edward Zaphir therefore remained theonly trade union official to be prosecutedunder Section 359 of the Queensland

19

A comparison of workingconditions between 1909 and 1928

Queensland Government GazetteWednesday 26 May 1909“The Wages Board Act of 1908”determination of the “BrisbaneCarting Trade Board”to take effect from 12 June 1909

CarriersHoursThat the ordinary working hours forsuch drivers shall not exceed 60hours in any one week, exclusiveof such time taken up in bedding,feeding and watering horses andcleaning stables on Sundays andholidays.Before 6.30 am and after 6.30 pm(2 pm Saturdays) overtime ispayable.

Wages£2.2.6 per week for drivers of one

horse vehicles

£2.7.6 per week for drivers of twohorse vehiclesan additional 2/6d per weekfor each additional horse

overtime 1/- per hour 2/- on Sundays

W.D. Grimes Chairman_____________________________________

Queensland Government GazetteMon 9 July 1928

The Board of Trade and ArbitrationCarters and Drivers, Draymen andLorrymens Award 1 July 1928Drivers employed by carriers

One horse vehicle£4.12.0 per week

Two horse vehicle£4.17.0 per week

Three shillings per week for eachadditional horse over two.

Motor vehicle up to 1 ton £4.14.0Hours per week 44

Ordinary working hours between 7 amand 6 pm Monday to Friday (1 pmSaturday) and shall not exceed 8 hoursMonday to Friday inclusive, and 4 onSaturday.

Overtime – time and a half, Sundaysdouble time.

26

actually paid twice, with a number ofother would-be benefactors being turnedaway by court officials.27 While the finewas not required to be paid until afterZaphir’s appeal had been heard, it wasprobably just as well, for the appeal wasdismissed on 15 December 1977.28 Theestablishment of a new legal precedentnow paved the way for the Bjelke-Petersen government to begin targetingother union officials, with their attentionbeing drawn towards the TWU and theorganiser who had played a minor rolein the ‘Mandarin Case’.

Hughie Williams had come directly tothe attention of the government in March1977, when he carried out a briefinvestigation of a trucking firm,Queensland Express Haulage, in thesouthern Brisbane suburb of Rocklea.Local carriers had already voicedcomplaints that this company, whichoperated under a number of alternatenames, offered cartage rates well belowthose generally accepted by the industry.Williams suspected that their operationsmight also be breaching the Award, asuspicion fully confirmed after a briefperusal of the firm’s time and wagesbook, which contained a solitary entryrecording fourteen hours and the sum offorty-five dollars. There was no nameattached to this entry, and the proprietor,Peter Schuback, insisted that heemployed only one person. Thatemployee was the forklift driver.Williams found this man to beunlicensed, and demanded that he step

down from the machine. This arousedSchuback’s fury, and he ordered theunion official from the yard whileostensibly sacking the forklift driver anda surprised office girl who happened toappear at the wrong time. Williamsdeclined to leave, and the police werecalled. Much to the proprietor’s chagrin,however, they agreed with the TWUorganiser that he was legally entitled tocarry out his duties.29

Shortly after the police left, events tooka slightly different twist when a deliverydriver from Dunlop-IBC entered thedepot. According to Peter Schuback, theTWU official ordered the driver,Raymond Hines, not to make the deliveryas the yard had been declared ‘black’.30

The driver’s recollection was somewhatdifferent. Hines admitted Williams had‘requested’ that the goods remain on histruck, but he had every intention ofmaking the delivery until he was verballyabused by Schuback.31 Only one thing iscertain: the delivery was not made.

The following month Williams returnedto the depot and found two men, one ofwhom was the previously ‘sacked’forklift driver, and both openly admittedthey were employed by QueenslandExpress Haulage. The union organiserinsisted they become members of theTWU − effective immediately; failure tocomply would result in the premisesbeing black-listed under the preferenceclause of the Award. Another heateddiscussion with Peter Schuback ensued,

20

Fruitless Endeavours: TheGenesis of The Bjelke-Petersen Government’s

Persecution of Unionists inQueensland, 1976-77

by Murray Johnson

The 1974 Queensland State election wasseen by many throughout Australia as agood indicator of Labor Party prospectsin the federal arena. An ardent states-righter, Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen hadalready shown himself to be more than athorn in the side of Labor Prime MinisterGough Whitlam. Bjelke-Petersen’sfundamental Christianity was totallyopposed to anything remotely smackingof socialism, communism or centralism,all of which − according to the Premier− were so inextricably entwined that theywere virtually inseparable. With his ownconservative government motivated bya developmental ethos and devoid ofsubstantial policies, Bjelke-Petersen hadpreviously campaigned none too subtlyon a platform of ‘law and order’ − thefirst notable instance occurring duringthe 1971 Springbok tour, when policebatons were unleashed on anti-apartheidprotesters in Brisbane.1 The 1974 stateelections therefore provided a chance tolink ‘law and order’ within the state toan ideological threat without, and withthe Whitlam government struggling fromone crisis to another Bjelke-Petersen’ssummer election, the first to be held in

Queensland since 1908,2 was aresounding success. Labor was gutted,winning only eleven of the eighty-twoseats, while Bjelke-Petersen’s Nationalscaptured thirty-nine, the Liberals thirtyand an Independent and the NorthQueensland Party taking one apiece.3

This stunning electoral victory didnothing to encourage the government inthe formulation of solid policies, and inthe lead-up to the next election in 1977Bjelke-Petersen again fell back on thetried and tested ‘law and order’ platform,except that this time it was the labourmovement which was specificallytargeted. Three interconnected episodesinvolving the Transport Workers’ Union(TWU) in 1976 and 1977 revealed theextraordinary lengths to which thispersecution extended, and while farcicalin the extreme, it was merely a foretasteof what was to come.

Legislation passed through parliamentbecame increasingly harsh. In 1976amendments made to the IndustrialConciliation and Arbitration Act of 1961retained the section making secondaryboycotts illegal and, at the same time,removed union protection againstcharges of conspiracy and breach ofcontract which had been in place sincethe passing of the Trade Union Act in1915. The 1976 amendments alsoempowered Industrial RelationsCommissioners to order strikingunionists to return to work, and unionswhich did not comply with this directionfaced very severe penalties − includingderegistration. Moreover, employers

25

this case unique. Setting a precedentnevertheless proved difficult at theoutset, for after a four-day trial inToowoomba District Court at thebeginning of August 1977, the chargesagainst Zaphir were withdrawn on alegal technicality. Not that Zaphirescaped; fresh charges were almostimmediately laid, with the venue beingshifted to Brisbane District Court.21 Inresponse, General Secretary of theTrades and Labor Council (TLC), FredWhitby, organised a four-hour stopworkmeeting to coincide with thecommencement of Zaphir’s second trial.While the Bjelke-Petersen governmentregarded this proposed industrial actionas ‘a blatant attempt to pressure thejudiciary’,22 Independent MP forTownsville South, Thomas Aikens,revealed where his true politicalallegiance lay when he savagely attackedZaphir’s character in State parliament:

Is the man Zaphir who is the vortex ofproposed industrial action by theStoremen and Packers’ Union the sameperson who, in 1968, was fined $500 bythe Customs Department after a publichearing for distributing pornographicfilms and, if so, will arrangements bemade to fully publicise the matter so thatthe people of Queensland, who will besubjected to considerable inconvenienceand distress by the proposed strike, willbe made aware of the type of man onwhose behalf they will grievouslysuffer?23

Zaphir retained his support within thelabour movement, appearing in BrisbaneDistrict Court on 8 September 1977,

following the TLC’s protest rally at theRoma Street Forum which attracted anestimated 6000 unionists. They wereclosely watched by upwards of 1000police officers, an ominous presencewhich rally organisers believed wasassembled solely with one purpose inmind:

The Police presence was not requested bytrade unionists who felt in no need ofprotection. Were they there to guard thestreets? The streets in their deadly waystill lay in wait for the unwary motorists.They were there to intimidate personswho have different views to the self-styledgovernment of the Premier. They weredirected to be there by Premier Joh in thehope of a confrontation with the unionistsso that he could launch his electioncampaign of “Law and Order - Who’srunning the country, the unions or thegovernment?” Responsible unionists didnot fall for confrontation and Joh’sprovocation was a fizzer …24

The fact that protesters refused to bedrawn into a confrontation clearlydisappointed Fred Campbell, Ministerfor Labour Relations, who regarded therally as having been nothing more than‘a damp squib’.25 To be sure, it had nobearing on the outcome of Zaphir’s trial.On 15 September a jury comprising eightwomen and four men found him guiltyof ‘threatening to cause a detriment’,with Judge Loewenthal handing down a$100 fine or two months’ imprisonment.Zaphir was allowed seven days to pay.26

Although an appeal was lodgedimmediately, such was the support forthe SPU organiser that the fine was

21

were also authorised to stand downemployees who were left idle duringstrike actions. Three years later theintroduction of the Essential Services Actcarried this further by taking away fromthe Industrial Relations Commissionerstheir power to deal with strike actioninvolving services considered to be‘essential’; thereafter it was placed in thehands of Cabinet so that the Ministercould order a return to work. Throughoutthese three years there was a distinct shiftfrom civil to criminal law, and under theEssential Services Act all cases were tobe heard by a District Court judgewithout the right to trial by jury.4 Withits own spin-off, the Electricity(Continuity of Supply) Act , thislegislation was to be used in 1985 tobludgeon the Electrical Trades Unionduring the SEQEB dispute.5 The genesisof all these initiatives, however, was in1976, when the Bjelke-Petersengovernment made its first tentativemoves to test the depth of industrialwaters. Rather than the state’s essentialservices, the first action involved thealleged theft of two mandarins valued attwenty-two cents.

Married with three young children,thirty-year-old Noel Gilby was employedby Bell Freightlines in Brisbane as aforklift driver. He was also a delegate forthe TWU. In July 1976 he was loadingrailway wagons at Acacia Ridge withcolleague and fellow union member, NeilGriffiths, when their world was suddenlyturned upside down. An owner-driver

told the company’s rail manager that hehad seen Gilby remove two mandarinsfrom one of the wagons and hand one toGriffiths.6 The reaction was quiteextraordinary. Police were called, but bythe time they arrived the wagons haddeparted and the only incriminatingevidence that could be found was asolitary orange peel lying on the groundnearby;7 a lemon peel would surely havebeen more appropriate. Although thepolice were reluctant to take any furtheraction in what was obviously a trivialmatter, Bell Freightlines was adamantthat charges be laid, and both mensubsequently appeared in the InalaMagistrate’s Court. Although they wereably defended by solicitors appointed bythe TWU, who pointed out the glaringinconsistencies in the prosecution’s case,Gilby and Griffiths were neverthelesscommitted to stand trial in the DistrictCourt the following year. Just before thehearing their defence counsel appealeddirectly to the Solicitor-General for ‘thismadness to be put at an end’, outliningthe flimsy circumstantial evidence onwhich the entire prosecution was based:

The only substantial evidence againstour clients was given by oneDesmond Charles Skinner, the RailManager employed by Bell FreightLines Pty. Ltd., and further by oneDouglas Edward Nystrom, a TruckDriver employed by Bell FreightLines Pty. Ltd. Nystrom claims thathe saw Gilby hand a mandarin toGriffiths and Skinner claims to have

24

In late 1976 Edward Zaphir called on anumber of fuel depots around theDarling Downs in southern Queenslandand notified the proprietors that as someof the duties carried out by theiremployees fell within the ambit of theSPU it was necessary for at least one ofthose employees to be a paid memberof his union. Many employees werealready members of the TWU, and bothGiovanni Pirio and Jack Cairns,respectively the Toowoomba agents forAMPOL and AMOCO fuels, refused tocomply with Zaphir’s demands. Shortlyafterwards their fuel supplies suddenlydried up, deliveries only being resumedafter they took out SPU membership onbehalf of their employees. It was a littledifferent with Anthony Hillier,Toowoomba agent for Golden Fleece,who refused to acquiesce, and secretlytaped Zaphir ’s demands that hisemployees join the SPU. When Hillier’sfuel supplies were terminated he handedToowoomba police the tape-recordinghe had made, albeit, without lodging aformal complaint.17 It was at this pointthat political involvement began.

Rather than being dealt with as a localmatter, Kevin Martin of the Crown LawOffice was instrumental in having thecomplaint investigated by the CriminalInvestigation Branch in Brisbane.18

Martin was president of the YoungLiberals, and the officer chosen to carryout enquiries was Inspector CharlesDwyer, ranked third in the branchhierarchy. In subsequent court actionsDwyer expressed surprise that he had

been instructed to conduct theinvestigation:

[Dwyer] agreed with a suggestion by Mr.W.J. Cuthbert [for Zaphir] that it wasextraordinary that he should investigatewhat was a Toowoomba matter.Toowoomba police normally would havedealt with it … He agreed with asuggestion that Hillier’s letter did notmake a complaint to police; nor did it seekpolice action. Dwyer denied that his beingput on the investigation was political. Hedid not realise it was political until afterZaphir was charged and he readnewspaper reports.19

Zaphir was charged under Section 359of the Queensland Criminal Code,initially formulated by Sir SamuelGriffith in 1899. This archaic law hadbeen resurrected by the Bjelke-Petersengovernment to prevent union officialsfrom carrying out their duties, and itslegal parameters were extremely broad:

Any person who threatens to do an injury,or cause any detriment of any kind toanother with intent to prevent or hinderthat other person from doing any actwhich he is lawfully entitled to do, or withintent to compel him to do any act whichhe is lawfully entitled to abstain fromdoing, is guilty of a misdemeanour, andis liable to imprisonment for one year orto a fine of four hundred dollars.20

Any complaint about Zaphir’s actionswould previously have been settled bythe Arbitration Court; now it had becomea criminal offence, and that is what made

22

seen some mandarin peels near a railwaywagon on the day in question. Our clientstotally deny the allegations against themand a reading of the cross-examination inthe Lower Court will indicate to you thatthe relationship of our clients and Skinnerfalls against a background, particularly inGilby’s case, of considerable industrialdispute.8

Gilby was an active union delegate, andthis was clearly why he was targeted.With the government now determined toundermine the trade union movement,the Solicitor-General declined tointervene, and Police Commissioner RayWhitrod − who was soon to have his ownbattles with the government − alsodetermined that the case shouldproceed.9 It did, coming before JudgeMcGuire of the District Court in June1977, and it was there that this pettycampaign was finally terminated at theinsistence of the judiciary. After perusingtranscripts from the Magistrate’s Court,Judge McGuire was scathing in hiscriticism of what had already occurred.During cross-examination, for instance,it was revealed that Nystrom ‘had acriminal record of sorts for dishonesty’;neither Gilby or Griffiths had anyprevious convictions. McGuirequestioned whether the case could bejustified ‘in the public interest’ −meaning, of course, whether theexpenditure of taxpayers funds could bejustified. At this point Crown ProsecutorA.P. Gundelach concurred with the‘intimations’ of the judge and withdrewthe charges.10 An obviously relieved

Noel Gilby wrote to TWU StateSecretary Arch Bevis:

I would like to express great thanks to theTransport Workers Union on behalf of mywife and myself for the support anddedication we have been shown as afamily as well as a union member allthroughout the past 11 months whilst Iwas being prosecuted by the police forthe theft of 2 mandarins … we would liketo say a very special thanks to OrganiserWilliams who has worked so hard and putin so many hours on our behalf.11

Hughie Williams had indeed supportedthe pair throughout their ordeal, and hewas also representative of a new breedof younger, more aggressive unionistswho were coming to the fore to meet thegovernment’s challenge. Bevis, on theother hand, typified the older style ofleadership who adopted a veneer ofexternal militancy to protect theirpositions within their unions. Theseforces would ultimately collide, and ina number of instances it would be theyoung Turks who emerged supreme.Before that happened, however, HughieWilliams would also become a target forgovernment intimidation.

Nor were Gilby’s problems at an end.While Griffiths had wisely foundalternative employment, Gilbycontinued working for Bell Freightlines,which by 1977 had become a subsidiaryof the expanding Mayne Nicklessempire.12 Arch Bevis decided that thiswas an opportune time to make a show

23

of strength by imposing three demandson Gilby’s employer. First, Bevisrequired the TWU to be reimbursed forlegal expenses; second, he wanted thecompany to pay the medical expensesfor Gilby’s wife, whose health haddeteriorated during the drawn-out saga;and finally, he insisted that Gilby and hiswife were entitled to a week’s paidholiday to relieve their mental anguish.Bevis ominously warned that if hisdemands were not met in full ‘all hell isgoing to break loose’.13

L.C. Ryan, general manager of BellFreightlines, responded by forwarding acheque to cover the TWU’s legalexpenses as a gesture of ‘goodwilltowards our respective organisations’.No mention was made of medical costsor paid holidays, and as far as Ryan’scompany was concerned the matter was‘now concluded’.14 Bevis took no furtheraction. Gilby, on the other hand, was nowa marked man, on one occasion beingfalsely accused of deliberately damaginga truck with his forklift.15 How long heremained in the employ of BellFreightlines is not known.

This case coincided with the exposureof a number of medical practitionersrorting the Medibank scheme. In a letterto Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper,W. Nelson Gracie of Coolum Beach, onQueensland’s Sunshine Coast, reflectedon both incidents when drawingattention to the inequity of the justicesystem:

The anomalies of the judicial systemseem to be great, when doctors whosay they did not intend to defraud andyet pay back sums of $50,000 to theGovernment and are still not namedor prosecuted. And yet two men whosay they did not intend to defraud withtwo mandarins are publicly namedand their families exposed in a courtwhich involves a judge and jury.Where is the basic honesty in oursociety? If the judicial system finds it“hard” to prosecute for fraud of$50,000 then why is it easy toprosecute over two mandarins? Itappears that the moneyed orprivileged of our society can manageto avoid being named, prosecuted orexposed …16

For all that, the Queenslandgovernment’s involvement in the‘Mandarin Case’ had been peripheral atbest. Moves, however, were alreadybeing engineered for direct interventioninto union activities. The attack waslaunched just two months after thejudiciary had finally brought an end tothe persecution of Gilby and Griffiths,and involved the metaphoricalcrucifixion of Edward Zaphir, anorganiser with the Storemen andPackers’ Union (SPU). The web whichensnared Zaphir was to be cast evenwider in an attempt to trap the TWUorganiser who had played his own minorrole in the ‘Mandarin Case’.