Trade Union entry Wagga Shearers Union (1886 - 1887)

Summary

Formed, largely as a response to the cutting of shearers' rates in April 1886, the Wagga Shearers' Union was among a number of similar bush unions hoping to achieve better conditions for their members. In January 1887, the Australian Shearers' Union amalgamated with the Bourke and Wagga Shearers' Unions to form the Amalgamated Shearers' Union of Australasia [ASU]. The three component unions each became a branch of the ASU.

At the Annual Conference of the ASU held at Wagga Wagga in February 1888, agreement on amalgamation was reached with representatives of the South Australian Shearers' Union, which upon amalagamation became the Adelaide Branch of the ASU. In March 1888 a further branch of the ASU was formed at Young. The Moree Shearers' Union, which had been formed in 1886, became a branch of the ASU in May 1888.

In 1890 ASU machinery was used to recruit shed hands and bush labourers into a new union which was formally established as the General Labourers' Union of Australasia at its inaugural conference in February 1891.

In February 1894 the General Labourers' Union and the Amalgamated Shearers' Union amalgamated to form the Australian Workers' Union. The AWU was registered in 1905 and continued operating under this name until 1993, despite two reregistrations (one in 1976 and the next in 1988). In 1993 the AWU amalgamated with the Federation of Industrial Manufacturing & Engineering Employees to form the AWU-FIME Amalgamated Union.

Related entries

Timeline

 1886 - 1887 Wagga Shearers Union
       1887 - 1894 Amalgamated Shearers Union of Australasia
             1905 - 1976 Australian Workers Union (i)
                   1976 - 1988 Australian Workers Union (ii)
                         1988 - 1993 Australian Workers Union (iii)
                               1993 - AWU-FIME Amalgamated Union