Trade Union entry Fire Brigade Employees Union of New South Wales (1910 - 1922)
- From
- 1910
New South Wales - To
- 1922
- Functions
- Trade Union (State or Territory only)
Summary
Formed in 1910 and registered just a year later, the Fire Brigade Employees' Union of New South Wales was the first known trade union of firefighters in the world. By 1922 the Union had changed names to the Fire Brigades Association of New South Wales, but officers remained excluded. In 1948, however, the Officers' and Firefighters' Associations formally amalgamated and were registered under the new (and current) title of the New South Wales Fire Brigade Employees' Union [FBEU]. Officers joined firefighters on strike for the first time, over pay. Just a year later, in 1949, a splinter group of senior officers emerged from the ranks of the FBEU to form a Senior Officers' Association, independent of the FBEU. By 1975, the Senior Officers' Association and the FBEU formally amalgamated, finally making the FBEU the one industrial union for all New South Wales firefighters.
Related entries
Timeline
1910 - 1922 Fire Brigade Employees Union of New South Wales
1922 - 1948 Fire Brigades Association of New South Wales
1948 - New South Wales Fire Brigade Employees Union
Archival resources
The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program
Published resources
Books
- Jopson, Debra, The Red Brigade: The Official History of the New South Wales Fire Brigade Employee's Union, NSW Fire Brigade Employee's Union, Sydney, 1994, 349 pp. Details
Ross G. Elford
Created: 25 January 2002, Last modified: 12 December 2002