On Strong Foundations: the formation of the CFMEU Construction Division

• Unions Grow Despite Employers
  
• United Action leads to Labor Councils
  
• One, Big Industrial Union
  

From the beginning of European settlement of Australia, the building industry has played a key role in the industrial and economic development of the nation.

The colony's needs for permanent housing, roads, bridges, public buildings created a demand for building labour. And building workers were among the first to form trade unions to fight collectively for better wages and conditions. Although the penal nature of the new colony - with its harsh conditions and military rules -- did not permit the development of trade unionism, workers began combining into trade unions and taking political action from the 1820s.

By 1850, there were about 25 unions in Sydney, 13 in Hobart, as well as smaller numbers in Melbourne and Adelaide. Some of the earliest construction unions include:

• the Sydney Joiners' Benefit Society (1835);
• the Society of Operative Painters, Plumbers and Glaziers (1841);
• the Shinglers and Slaters (1842);
• the Society of Carpenters and Joiners in Melbourne (- following a meeting at the Eastern Hill Hotel in 1847);
• the Operative Masons Society (1850);
• the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Queensland (1863).

With the ending of convict transportation in 1850 and the arrival of more free settlers, trade union struggles became more frequent and sustained.

The craft pattern continued throughout the 1800s and a separate builders' labourers organisation was formed first in Victoria (1880s) and then in Queensland (1893) and NSW, with South Australian, Tasmanian and Western Australian branches following in the early 20th century.

Unions Grow Despite Employers

The formation of these societies was, of course, strongly opposed by the wealthy and business classes who attacked them in newspapers in terms still familiar today:

"Another consequence has been that, owing to the high rates and short hours, the cost of employing labour amounted to a barrier against the investment of capital …" (The Argus Oct 23, 1863)

But that didn't deter the workers. Between 1850 and 1930, more than 60 building organisations were formed, reflecting the variety of trades and different political views of those participating.

Many of these unions formed national associations operating in each State, for example, the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association of Australia (1907) - the first craft union to be registered under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1904 - the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners and the Australian Builders' Labourers - both registered in 1911.

United Action leads to Labor Councils

Demand for united action saw these craft unions establish Building Trades Federations. For example, strong support from the Amalgamated and Progressive Societies of Carpenters and Joiners, led to the formation of a Trades and Labor Council in Sydney in 1871.

A Trades Association was formed in Melbourne as early as 1856, but the permanent Trades Hall Council was formed in 1879. Similar bodies were established in Queensland and Tasmania in 1883, in South Australia in 1884 and Western Australia in 1892.

Building workers were also present when the first small steps towards a national trade union movement were taken. Only two interstate representatives attended the first inter-colonial union conference NSW in 1879. One of those was secretary of the Melbourne Branch of the Progressive Society of Carpenters and Joiners, Mr Turner.

However, severe economic depression in the 1890s saw a massive attack on workers' organisations by the employing class. The same pattern was repeated in the 1930s, when collapsing businesses again attempted to unload the effects of the crisis onto the backs of workers and their families.

The 1890s depression saw huge struggles on the waterfront and in the shearing industry, resulting in the serious weakening of union organisation across the country. Unionists began to recognise that the gains they won would be best protected if laws could be made by politicians who supported workers instead of bosses. So they formed the Australian Labour Party.

One, big industrial union

Some building unionists also recognised the value of having one, strong industrial union to secure a better bargaining position for workers on construction sites. Internationally, the idea of a single union to represent all workers from a particular industry had taken hold in the US and some parts of Europe from the beginning of the 20th century. Australia followed suit but the achievement of an industrial union for the building industry was a long and difficult job.

Bricklayers, Builders' Labourers, Carpenters and Plasterers agreed to form a single union in 1922. But it was not until 1942 that bricklayers and carpenters effectively amalgamated to form the Building Workers Industrial Union, which became a federal organisation in 1943.

Over the following decades, work continued on the formation of one union for the industry with the gradual amalgamation of some of the other building craft unions with the BWIU.
For example, the Victorian Tilelayers amalgamated in 1964 and Stonemasons in 1965. In WA, the Bricklayers amalgamated with the BWIU in 1968. SA bricklayers decided to form a Branch of the BWIU in 1968. Qld stonemasons and BWIU amalgamated with the bricklayers in 1973.
Nationally, the BWIU, the Plasterers Federation and the Operative Painters and Decorators Union also began working on amalgamation from 1966.

However, the emergence of strong industrial unions in the metal industry was already perceived as a threat by the Conservative Government of the early 1970s. As a result new legislation was enacted preventing any reasonably sized unions from amalgamating. Large unions could only amalgamate with small organisations.

So it was not until the early 1990s that we saw the emergence of One Big Union for the construction industry, the CFMEU Construction & General Division -- with a federal structure and representation in every State and Territory. See Amalgamation.

Each of the building unions in that amalgamation has a long and proud history. At times, that history took different paths in different States, with highs and lows. On other occasions, campaigning together as Building Group Trade Unions, they achieved victories that raised working standards for the whole industry and flowed on to other industries. This overview simply outlines those shared and distinct stories. For more detailed accounts, take a look at the linked stories referred to on this Website and the list of books and pamphlets at the end.

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.