Pursuing trade union internationalism: Australia's Waterside Workers and the International Transport Workers Federation, c. 1950-70

Kirkby, D; Ostapenko, D

Pursuing trade union internationalism: Australia's Waterside Workers and the International Transport Workers Federation, c. 1950-70

Kirkby, D

Ostapenko, D

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Labour History, 2016, 110 (1), pp. 57 - 75
Issue Date:: 2016-05-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Kirkby, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3288-4819	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ostapenko, D	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-05-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Labour History, 2016, 110 (1), pp. 57 - 75	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0023-6942	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/90577
dc.description.abstract	© 2016 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. When the Australian Waterside Workers Federation (WWF) decided in 1971 to join the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) it overturned decades of antipathy to the ITF. We ask why union officials held this view and why the union now changed its mind at this particular moment. We argue that while union power was strong in the immediate post-war decades, the WWF was able to pursue its economic goals locally and join international actions for reasons of solidarity. In the following decade, however, union archives reveal that a confluence of technological change and diminishing union strength under a conservative government made international organising a logical and necessary strategy. Under the guidance of General Secretary Charlie Fitzgibbon, the WWF overcame its opposition to the ITF, by then an organisation representing millions of workers worldwide. We concentrate on Fitzgibbon's leadership as a crucial factor in the timing of this historic change.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Labour History	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.5263/labourhistory.110.0057	en_US
dc.subject.classification	History	en_US
dc.title	Pursuing trade union internationalism: Australia's Waterside Workers and the International Transport Workers Federation, c. 1950-70	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	110	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	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	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	110	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. When the Australian Waterside Workers Federation (WWF) decided in 1971 to join the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) it overturned decades of antipathy to the ITF. We ask why union officials held this view and why the union now changed its mind at this particular moment. We argue that while union power was strong in the immediate post-war decades, the WWF was able to pursue its economic goals locally and join international actions for reasons of solidarity. In the following decade, however, union archives reveal that a confluence of technological change and diminishing union strength under a conservative government made international organising a logical and necessary strategy. Under the guidance of General Secretary Charlie Fitzgibbon, the WWF overcame its opposition to the ITF, by then an organisation representing millions of workers worldwide. We concentrate on Fitzgibbon's leadership as a crucial factor in the timing of this historic change.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/90577