1951 Waterfront Dispute
World War periods
The union movement began to be revitalised after WWI, though there were divides between more radical and moderate members. Through the great depression of the early 1930s, unemployment soared and unions lost members and influence.
They rebounded under a 1935 Labour government where the Federation of Labour (FoL, the latest iteration of the Red Feds) negotiated with government for universal wage increase, and a basic living wage for all. This government introduced compulsory unionism, swelling the FoL ranks, and the close relationship between the two powers led to Aotearoa New Zealand introducing the world’s first non-income-tested universal pension, and holiday pay for all workers.
After WWII, increasing tensions between workers and employers ramped up again, and the unions again faced division between the more moderate Labour party aligned unions and the more militant ones, with the latter often having a few members aligned with NZ Communist Party values. Eventually, this led to a break, with the more militant unions leaving the FoL to form the Trade Union Congress, firmly opposed to the arbitration system.
1951
The Trade Union Congress was led by one of the most militant unions – that of the ‘wharfies’, the watersiders. The country depended on the export and trade centred around the docks and after the austerity of WWII began to fade, the working class began to push again for better pay and conditions. In 1949, the Labour government was ousted by Sidney Holland’s National Party, who promised to disempower the militant unions.
The industrial action that kicked off in 1951 was both the longest, and the largest, in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. Rhetoric on both sides was highly politicised. As New Zealand History puts it, ‘the dispute took place in a climate of Cold War suspicion. The opposing sides denounced each other as Nazis, Commies, traitors and terrorists’.
Stoppage
In 1951, the Arbitration Court granted a 15% pay rise to all workers within the arbitration system. This did not apply to the Waterside Union workers, who had previously negotiated a 6% raise. The shipowners refused to extend the 15% increase to the wharfies, only offering them the 9% difference. The wharfies refused, and resolved to cease working overtime until they received the same pay rise as the other unions.
The ensuing clash was marked by a significant disconnect between the parties about the nature of the dispute. The employers classed the refusal to work overtime as an illegal strike and ordered them to work the overtime, or cease employment. To the workers, this amounted to an industrial lockout by their employers. Either way, work at the wharves again came to a grinding halt.
State of Emergency
The government declared a state of emergency in February, citing the economic impact on the export trade. Prime Minister Holland announced that the watersiders had ‘declared war on the people’, and sent in troops to take over the dock workers’ labour. Emergency regulations were rolled out that gave the government power to seize union funds, prohibited strike meetings and the distribution of any union publications, and banned any media outlets from speaking favourably of the strikers, or sharing their perspective. Police were empowered to enter premises and arrest without warrants. Jury trials were cut, and presumption of innocence was reversed. The CIA even became involved, covertly flying cargo between the North and South Islands to help break the dispute.
People were banned from giving any material support to the wharfies and their families while they were unemployed – including helping to feed their children. As one striker, Baden Norris, remembers in an RNZ article:
“It was illegal, for instance, for a mother to feed her [striking] son. One would think that would be impossible but it wasn’t. The law stated that you weren’t allowed to… I always feel sad that my dear old mother would have to sneak up from the depot in a big overcoat so that nobody could see what she was carrying – that really saddened me – tough times.”
”Just as it became a crime to give a wharfie’s child a biscuit, so it was a crime to hand anyone a leaflet “likely to encourage” the workers.”
– Rona Bailey, for Salient, 1971
Solidarity
”One man, I never knew who he was, came up to shake my hand in London Street in Lyttelton and when I opened my hand there was a ten shilling note he had pressed into it. He took off into the crowd without me even [able] to thank him.”
”Somebody produced a slaughtered sheep to share. I got the impression it was stolen but now I know there were friendly farmers who donated sheep, and market gardeners who gave vegetables, and tradespeople who provided other goods and services for nothing.”
Conflict
Defeat
“A lot of men thought that they’ve done their duty but they were branded by the Government as enemies of the state. That’s what saddened me mainly. Certainly, a lot of the ex-servicemen never got over that.”
Strikers took comfort in their solidarity to the cause though and it was remembered by many with pride, as illustrated by the loyalty cards issued to those who remained true to the cause for the entire five-month dispute.
New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union :Waterfront Lockout ‘51. Napier Branch. [H F Hewett] stood loyal right through, one hundred and fifty-one days – February 15 to July 15, 1951. [Signed by W? Barnes, National President; Toby Hill, National Secretary, and J Black, Napier Secretary]. Ref: Eph-A-LABOUR-1951-01. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22355492.
Further resources
‘A Century of Struggle’, full length documentary of Seamen’s Union strikes in NZ
History of Unions and employee organisations in NZ
RNZ Article, War on the Waterfront
The 1951 waterfront dispute. New Zealand History
The 1951 waterfront dispute, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
The 1951 Waterfront Dispute: 151 days that shook New Zealand
Video series – Basil Frost remembers the 1951 waterfront Strike
Waterfront Strike Chronology of Events, Press Newspaper, 20 July1951
‘Axe to the head helps humanity shine through in bitter dispute’, Stuff article.
The History of Protest in Aotearoa New Zealand
The History of Protest in Aotearoa New Zealand
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