Indian seamen and Australian unions fighting for labour rights: "The Real Facts of the Lascars' Case" of 1939

Kirkby, D; Monk, LA

Indian seamen and Australian unions fighting for labour rights: "The Real Facts of the Lascars' Case" of 1939

Kirkby, D

Monk, LA

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Labour History, 2017, (113), pp. 209 - 239
Issue Date:: 2017-11-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Kirkby, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3288-4819	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Monk, LA	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-11-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Labour History, 2017, (113), pp. 209 - 239	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0023-6942	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/126866
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. In 1939, the outbreak of war prompted strikes by Indian seafarers across the empire. This article traces events in Australia as Indian seafarers asserted their labour rights and in doing so contested their exploitative working conditions as "lascars" or the seagoing equivalent of shore-based indentured "coolie" labour. While the Australian government responded in ways that reinforced the "coolie" status of Indian seafarers, the Australian labour movement, most notably the maritime unions, threw their support behind the strikers. The Seamen's Union of Australia and Waterside Workers' Federation provided material aid, funded the strikers' legal costs and, significantly, challenged official and media representations of the Indian seafarers as "coolies" with explanations of their exploitative conditions as "workers." This action was significant because western seafarers' lack of support has been seen as contributing to Indian seafarers' difficulties in challenging their working conditions and status as "lascars." Showing how Indian and Australian workers together resisted labour categories and fought for political rights complicates prevailing views of the relationship between Australian unions and Asian workers and demonstrates a consistency with the earlier internationalism of Australian maritime unions identified by previous historians.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Labour History	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.5263/labourhistory.113.0209	en_US
dc.subject.classification	History	en_US
dc.title	Indian seamen and Australian unions fighting for labour rights: "The Real Facts of the Lascars' Case" of 1939	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	113	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
utslib.for	2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	113	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. In 1939, the outbreak of war prompted strikes by Indian seafarers across the empire. This article traces events in Australia as Indian seafarers asserted their labour rights and in doing so contested their exploitative working conditions as "lascars" or the seagoing equivalent of shore-based indentured "coolie" labour. While the Australian government responded in ways that reinforced the "coolie" status of Indian seafarers, the Australian labour movement, most notably the maritime unions, threw their support behind the strikers. The Seamen's Union of Australia and Waterside Workers' Federation provided material aid, funded the strikers' legal costs and, significantly, challenged official and media representations of the Indian seafarers as "coolies" with explanations of their exploitative conditions as "workers." This action was significant because western seafarers' lack of support has been seen as contributing to Indian seafarers' difficulties in challenging their working conditions and status as "lascars." Showing how Indian and Australian workers together resisted labour categories and fought for political rights complicates prevailing views of the relationship between Australian unions and Asian workers and demonstrates a consistency with the earlier internationalism of Australian maritime unions identified by previous historians.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/126866