Australian Workers' Union (AWU) - History

The largest Australian trade union from the early 1900s to 1970, and still one of the largest. It was formed in 1894 by the amalgamation of the shearers' union (formed 1886) and the rural labourers' union (formed 1890), and has traditionally recruited lesser-paid workers. It has always been a conservative force in trade union and labour politics.

AWU

Australian Workers' Union
Founded	1894
Members	130,000
Country	Australia
Affiliation	ACTU, ITF, IUF, IMF
Key people	Bill Shorten, national secretary
Office location	Melbourne, Victoria
Website	www.awu.net.au
known as AWU-FIMEE Amalgamated Union 1993-1995

The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It has exercised a powerful influence on the Australian trade union movement, and on the Australian Labor Party, particularly at state level, throughout its history.

History

The AWU grew from a number of earlier unions, notably the Australasian Shearers Union, founded by William Spence and David Temple in Creswick, Victoria in 1886. This union joined with shearers' unions in Bourke and Wagga in New South Wales to form the Amalgamated Shearers Union of Australia in 1887. In 1894 this union amalgamated with the General Labourers Union, which had formed in 1891, to form the Australian Workers' Union.

The Queensland Shearers Union, formed in 1887, and the Queensland Workers Union merged in 1891 to form the Amalgamated Workers Union of Queensland. In 1904 the AWUQ amalgamated with the AWU, to form a union with a combined membership of 34,000.

The AWU later absorbed a number of other unions in the pastoral, mining and timber industries notably the Amalgamated Workers Association of Queensland in 1913, and the Federated Mining Employees Association of Australia in 1917. Since these industries were the principal sources of Australia's wealth in the 19th century, the AWU soon became Australia's largest and most powerful union.

The defeat of the great shearers' and maritime unions strikes in the 1890s led the AWU to reject direct action and extremism, and it has been a force for moderation - its critics would say conservatism - in the Australian union movement ever since. In the 1930s the Communist Party launched a rival Pastoral Workers Industrial Union, but this failed to break the AWU's grip on its membership.

When the trade unions formed the Australian Labor Party following the defeat of the 1890s strikes, the AWU became a powerful influence in the party, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia, and to a lesser extent in the other states.

During the years since federation that the Australian industrial relations system has been dominated by the Court and its successors, the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and the Australian Industral Relations Commission, the AWU and its members were among that system's principal beneficiaries. The AWU remains a strong advocate of arbitration in the union movement. The AWU was not affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions for many years, preferring to maintain its independent relationship with the arbitration system. In Queensland the AWU is one of only two unions (the other being the SDA) not affiliated with the Queensland Council of Unions. In 1995 the union reverted to using the name Australian Workers' Union. Its expansion into new areas has brought the AWU into conflict with some other unions, particularly the National Union of Workers and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

The AWU is the most powerful union in the Labor Right faction of the Labor Party, and its current National Secretary, Bill Shorten, is standing for election to the House of Representatives at the next election.

For many years the AWU published two newspapers, The Australian Worker in New South Wales and The Worker (founded in 1890) in Brisbane.

The AWU's rules are registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its internal elections are conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission.

The AWU is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the International Metalworkers Federation, the International Union of Foodworkers and the International Transport Workers Federation.