North Australian Workers' Union

(Redirected from NAWU) Former trade union in the Northern Territory, Australia

The North Australian Workers' Union (NAWU) was a trade union in the Northern Territory between 1927 and 1972. It was a publisher of a newsletter in Darwin, the Northern Standard.

History

The NAWU was formed in 1927 via the merger of the North Australian Industrial Union and the Northern Territory Workers' Union. It identified as an "independent union" (distinguishing itself from a previous Northern Territory branch of the Australian Workers' Union) but did affiliate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The union's inaugural secretary was Robert Toupein, a former mayor of Darwin.

The union initially practised racial segregation, with membership barred to anyone "who is a Chinese, Japanese, Kanaka, or Afghan, or who belongs to any colored race". However, exemptions were made for Maori, African-American, and mixed-race workers. In 1930, Toupein and union organiser Owen Rowe represented the NAWU executive at a conference on Indigenous labour organised by home affairs minister Arthur Blakeley. While Toupein had previously criticised the exploitation of Indigenous workers, at the conference he argued that assimilation and wage equality were not possible for "full-blood" Indigenous people and that segregation should be introduced, whereby Indigenous people would be removed from pastoral stations and placed on reserves for their own "protection". The NAWU did agree that "half-caste" (racially mixed) Indigenous people should be granted equal wages in line with the eliminationist views advocated by Cecil Cook, to encourage their integration into white society.

By the late 1930s, the NAWU had accepted a number of half-caste Indigenous people as members. The union intervened on their behalf to participate in local society, including opposing moves to segregate the Northern Territory Football League and supporting their right to drink alcohol at public hotels. In 1937, the union intervened on the behalf of half-caste waterside workers, when Northern Territory administrator Aubrey Abbott argued before the local arbitration court that their wages should be lowered due to their racial status. The NAWU ultimately removed its racial bar in 1948 and allowed all Indigenous Australians to take up membership, despite the opposition of federal interior minister Herbert Johnson and departmental officials in the Native Affairs branch in Darwin.

The union was involved in Aboriginal Australians' working conditions on cattle stations in the 1960s. In 1965 the Union applied to the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to amend the Northern Territory's pastoral award to remove sections discriminating against Aboriginal workers. The pastoralists resisted strongly; the Commission eventually agreed, but in consideration of the pastoralists' concerns of what it would cost them, delayed implementation by three years. This delay helped lead towards the Gurindji strike (Wave Hill walk-off).

The union was deregistered in 1972.

References

Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union of Australia. North Australian Workers' Union Branch (1932), The Northern standard. [newsletter of the North Australian Workers' Union Branch (NAWU)], North Australian Workers' Union, retrieved 6 July 2017
^ Martínez 2005, p. 102.
^ Martínez 2005, p. 103.
^ Martínez 2005, p. 104.
Martínez 2005, p. 105.
^ Martínez 2005, p. 111.
Martínez 2005, pp. 112–113.
Martínez 2005, p. 117.
Australia. Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission; Kirby, Richard, 1904–2001; North Australian Workers' Union; Australia. Cattle station industry (Northern Territory) award (1966), In the matter of Cattle Station Industry (Northern Territory) Award, 1951 : application by the North Australian Worker's Union to vary by deleting the exclusion concerning Aboriginals and domestic servants (Clauses 3 and 6) : judgment of the Commission, Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, retrieved 6 July 2017{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
North Australian Workers' Union, applicant; Australia. Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, Transcript of proceedings, Commonwealth Reporting Service, 1983, retrieved 6 July 2017
"Gurindji strike for their land". Deadly Story. Victoria Government. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
"North Australian Workers Union - Trade Union entry". Australian Trade Union Archives (ATUA). University of Melbourne. 7 March 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2020.

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