The Great Accident Pay Dispute of 1971.

The great accident pay dispute of 1971 established the right for construction workers to full pay while off work on compo.

In 1971 the building industry in Sydney was experiencing a boom. For example, one builder, Concrete Constructions, had 17 multi-storey buildings in the CBD alone. It was the right time for the building unions to look at permanent improvements to wages and conditions.

Full accident pay for injured workers had been a hot issue since the mid 1960s. The NSW Workers Compensation Act 1926 did not allow for regular payments to commence as soon as an injured worker was off work. As a result, serious injury meant not only physical pain but financial disaster. It meant having to depend on family, friends and charity while you took your chances in the sausage grinder that is the court system. In the construction industry, the injustice of this situation burned in the guts of most workers like an ulcer. To have to work in a hard and dangerous industry for long hours was one thing; but to be discarded like a dirty rag when you got hurt was just not right. Something had to be done.

The Ball Starts Rolling

The first step towards justice occurred on December 9, 1970 when a Building Trades Group of Unions delegates' meeting endorsed a claim on the bosses for full accident pay and a wage claim of an extra $6 (per week that is!). However, the ball really only began rolling the following February with a series of site stop work meetings to seek endorsement of the delegates' claim.

The message that the rank and file sent to the unions was clear: lets go for it! So the unions gave the bosses an ultimatum: "Agree to our demands by March 31, 1971, or State-wide action will follow". As the deadline grew near and then passed, the unions tried to settle the issue by negotiation, hoping that rolling stop work meetings would send the message to the Master Builders and the Employer's Federation that the workers were deadly serious.

The Bosses Misread the Workers

Realising the flow on effect that a successful union claim would have throughout the industry, the bosses decided to try to stare down the workers. As a result, the unions had no choice but to escalate their action into an all-out stoppage.

On April 21, 1971, the unions' 'advance raiding party' moved. 250 workers on Sydney's landmark Opera House project walk off the job indefinitely. Five days later, 7000 CBD workers follow suit. Suddenly, the tower cranes which littered the box-canyon landscape went idle.

The big battalions of the union movement finally stepped into action on May 3. Throughout the state, over 30,000 construction workers at mass meetings voted to go on strike indefinitely. What started as a local dispute suddenly became a major crisis for the Liberal Willis Government and the bosses.

The Wives Give the Bosses Hell

One of the most effective tactics used by the unions during the dispute was to send a delegation of wives to visit the Master Builders Association to give the employers the benefit of their views.

The mass media had a field day. Television and newspapers around the country ran images of angry building workers' wives telling cowering employer reps just where on the social scale they thought they belonged (somewhere below pimps and drug peddlers!).

By the middle of May 1971 the pressure on the employers was intense. The better part of the CBD had been shut for four weeks and the rest of the industry had been out for two weeks.

With financial support and solidarity for the striking workers starting to pour in from inter-State and other unions, the bosses realised they were on a hiding to nothing. The question was no longer would they lose the dispute, but rather how could they surrender with some semblance of dignity.

The Judge Moves In

Realising the hopeless position of the employers, Justice Sheehy of the Arbitration Commission started to make private overtures to the building unions. He singled out Pat Clancy, then National Secretary of the Building Workers' Industrial Union, and all but guaranteed he would deliver the result the unions wanted.

However, the clincher was this: if the workers went back to work the Judge said he would deliver a decision the very same day!

Disunity Almost Leads to Disaster

So certain was Pat Clancy of imminent victory that he began to put the decision making process put in place to secure a return to work. In doing so, he literally put his position on the line. He told the mass meetings of workers if they went back to work and the result went against the unions, he would immediately resign.

The mass meetings were characterised by bitter debates. The Builder's Labourers Federation, led by Jack Mundey opposed a return to work. In their view the Arbitration Commission was a boss's court and only a direct industrial agreement with the MBA would be acceptable.

In contrast Clancy and the BWIU argued that an arbitrated decision would be the ultimate victory because it would apply to all employers (whether MBA members or not), and would have national application.

In the end, the vote to return to work was carried convincingly, but a legacy of division between the main building unions remained.

Victory for the Strikers!

As promised, on the very day of the return to work Justice Sheehy conceded the unions' claim with a new award provision for accident pay. The victory was not based on the generosity of the boss or the arbitration court, but on a total industry shut down of three weeks.

It was a victory based on the rank and files willingness to lose, in some cases, up to 5 weeks pay to achieve an important long term gain - something we now all take for granted.

United we bargain - Divided we beg.

Contact the National Office, Construction Division at:
Level 12, 276 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: 02 8524 5800
Fax: 02 8524 5801
Email: queries@fed.cfmeu.asn.au

Postal address: PO Box Q235, Queen Victoria Building Post Office, Sydney NSW 1230.