Broken Hill Strike
The Broken Hill Strike ( English: Broken Hill Strike ) was the first strike of the miners in Broken Hill, Australia in 1892. Broken Hill in New South Wales is not only the most important center of the mining of lead-silver-zinc ores in Australia in which mining has been going on since 1848 , but an important place of the Australian trade union movement, because numerous miners' strikes took place there. The first Broken Hill Strike is part of the strike movements in the Australian Economic Depression from 1889 to 1894 with the Maritime Strike (1890), Sheep Shearers Strike (1891) and Second Sheep Shearers Strike (1894).
prehistory
The Broken Hill miners had been unionized in the Barrier Ranges Miners 'Association since 1884 and shortly thereafter joined the Amalgamated Miners' Association (AMA) , which brought together miners in Australia and New Zealand . The miners in the Broken Hill area had enforced in 1889 that only unionized workers were employed in the mines and thus successfully applied the principle of the closed shop .
Course of the strike
During the economic crisis in Australia at the beginning of the 1890s there was a sharp drop in raw material prices, the price of silver had fallen by 15 percent and the managers of the mining companies tried to minimize production costs by cutting wages. In doing so, the employers wanted to enforce the "Freedom of Contract" principle, contrary to the closed shop principle. During the strike, numerous rallies and demonstrations by the strikers took place in Broken Hill. Seven strike leaders were arrested on September 16, 1892 on alleged conspiracy who were members of the local Australian Socialist League . Josiah Thomas , a magistrate of the peace and commissioner of a royal commission to supervise the collieries and mining chiefs sharply criticized the New South Wales court for this arrest and was therefore dismissed as judge. Also involved in this strike movement was John Holman , who later became a Member of Parliament in Western Australia who was a miner and later worked as a journalist.
To end the strike, Edmund Barton , who later became the first Prime Minister of New South Wales, sent armed police to Broken Hill. Employers deployed non-union workers in the mines.
In this politically explosive atmosphere, the miners are said to have advised their wives not to leave their homes. The 5,000 or so strikers resigned and the 18-week strike that began on July 2 ended in the defeat of the unions. The AMA lost half of its members after this strike.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Broken Hill in Context. P. 4. Information on members.optusnet.com.au ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 13, 2010
- ↑ Brian Dickey: The Broken Hill Strike, 1892 , accessed March 13, 2010
- ^ The Sydney Mail, July 30, 1892, available online , accessed March 13, 2010
- ↑ Thomas, Josiah (1863-1933) . Australian Dictionary of Biography . Australian National University , accessed March 13, 2010
- ↑ Edmund Barton (1849-1920) . Australian Dictionary of Biography . Australian National University , accessed March 13, 2010
- ^ Sydney Mail, October 15, 1892, from Google Books, accessed on March 13, 2010
- ↑ "1892 - Broken Hill Strike - Broken Hill - Miners - non-union labor" on eurekacouncil.com.au ( memento of the original from October 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 13, 2010
- ↑ Broken Hill in Context. S. 5. Information on members.optusnet.com.au ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 13, 2010
