Federated Clerks' Union of Australia

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

The Federated Clerks Union of Australia was an Australian trade union representing clerical workers, in existence from 1911 to 1993.[1]

It was formed in Melbourne in 1911, and was registered with the Commonwealth Arbitration Court the same year. It grew to include branches in all states by 1920, consolidating several pre-existing state unions, and held its first federal conference in 1916. It briefly renamed itself the Australian Clerical Association in 1917, but reverted to its former name in 1924.[1][2][3][4]

The union drastically shifted ideological direction throughout its history. In the 1940s, it had a significant communist presence, with high-profile figures like Jack Hughes holding key union offices. In the early 1950s, it was successfully targeted and taken over by the conservative Industrial Groups, which subsequently played a role in the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. It was a key right-wing union for decades afterwards, but was taken over by moderate left-wing members in the 1980s in a push associated with Lindsay Tanner.[5][6]

In 1993, it amalgamated with several other unions to form the Australian Services Union.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.