Missing Women: Recovering and Replacing Female Activists in Australian Labour History

There is relatively little research about women in labour councils and labour federations. Focusing on the historical and contemporary uses and impact of separate organising, this paper explores key developments in shaping patterns of women's activism through the experiences of women unionists in an Australian labour federation.Ceci est plus ou moins petite une recherche sur les femmes dans les conseils du travail et dans les fédérations du travail. En se concentrant l'utilisation historique et contemporaine des syndicats, cet article explore les développements clés qui ont contribué à façonner l'activisme des femmes par les expériences de femmes syndicalistes dans une fédération de travail en Australie

A Lumper\u27s Story: the THe and its Affiliates

The 1998 waterfront dispute has had a number of consequences, not the least being the demonstration of inter-union solidarity. It was a dispute that saw not just a union and an employer (and a government) challenging each other, but a dispute involving the union movement. The community assembly at Melbourne\u27s East Swanson dock became the gathering place for unionists across the spectrum, . It was not just the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) challenging Patrick\u27s, Reith and co, but the union movement, responding to the attack on one of its own, most dramatically seen on the night of I 8 April. The solidarity expressed ~ visually, aurally [the chant of \u27MUA ~ here to stay\u27] - spoke of the collective, the unity on which the union movement is founded

Radical theatre mobility: Unity Theatre, UK, and the New Theatre, Australia

For two radical theatres formed in the 1930s, taking performances to their audiences was an important dimension of commitment to working-class politics and civic engagement. Separated by distance but joined ideologically, the New Theatre in Australia and Unity Theatre in the United Kingdom engaged in what they described as ‘mobile work’, as well as being ‘stage curtain’ companies. Based on archival research and drawing on mobility literature, Cathy Brigden and Lisa Milner examine in this article the rationale for mobile work, the range of spaces that were used both indoor (workplaces, halls, private homes) and outdoor (parks, street corners beaches), and its decline. Emerging from this analysis are parallels between the two theatres’ motivation for mobile work, their practice in these diverse performance spaces, and the factors leading to the decline. Cathy Brigden is an associate professor in the School of Management and Deputy Director, Centre for Sustainable Organizations and Work at RMIT University, Australia. Her current research interests include the historical experiences of women in trade unions, gender in performing arts industries, and union strategies and regulation. Lisa Milner is a lecturer in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia. Current research interests include a comparative study of workers’ theatre, representations of workers and trade unions on screen, and labour biography

Editorial (Labour history)

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