| Industrial Relations in the New South Wales Building Industry 1850-1891 Contributor(s): Kelly, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 363901569X ISBN-13: 9783639015690 Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller E.K. OUR PRICE: $81.05 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 2008 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Art | History - General - Social Science |
| Physical Information: 0.46" H x 6" W x 9" (0.65 lbs) 216 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Australian building industry is historically characterised by con-flict, co-operation and radicalism, and early building unionists were a driving force in the progressive labour movement. This is a history of carpenters, stonemasons and bricklayers in colonial N.S.W. organising against laissez-faire economics of the nineteenth century. It asks how building unionists maintained basic industry standards such as the eight-hour day and uniform pay rates in a competitive deregulated in-dustry, before the advent of the Award system, when unfettered mar-ket forces drove many workers to long days and low wages. Drawing from the struggles of the British labour movement and fo-cusing on the ideas of early radicals - from Payne, Cobbett and Owen, to Marx, Bellamy and George - this study provides a global and ideo-logical context to the operative builders of Sydney, and explains the way they ran their unions and the hopes they held for a better world for the working classes. Those with an eye upon recent Australian government initiatives to destroy building industry unionism and en-force competitive dynamics in the workplace will find both interesting parallels and counterpoint in this work. |