Queensland Council of Unions

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The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) is a representative body of Trade union organisations, known as a Labour council, in the State of Queensland, Australia. As of 2005 there are 40 affiliated unions and 10 provincial Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Council, representing 350,000 workers.

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[edit] Responsibilities

The Queensland Council of Unions is responsible for:

  • implementing Australian Council of Trade Unions policy within Queensland, represent the Queensland movement statewide, nationally and internationally.
  • support and co-ordinate affiliated unions to improve industrial conditions and increase membership;
  • a public voice of the Queensland union movement;
  • influence government and public policy at an industrial, political and social level;
  • build awareness of the union movement through education, training and campaigning.

[edit] Structure

The Queensland Council of Unions has an executive made up of elected officers from affiliated unions that meets once a month. The current General Secretary is Grace Grace.

[edit] History

The origins of the organisation lie in a meeting of union secretaries to form a Trades and Labour Council on 18 August 1885, with agreement to form the organisation from 1 September, 1885. This was a period of rapid growth and saw the establishment of several unions including the Queensland Labourers Union (1889) and the Queensland Teachers Union (1889), and a growth in membership of existing unions. The Fifth Intercolonial Trade Union Congress in Brisbane in 1889 accepted the proposal to form the Australian Labour Federation, with the inaugural meeting on 11 June 1889 and the Labour Council disbanded. The Brisbane Worker newspaper was established in 1890 by the ALF under the editorship of William Lane. That year saw the first of the great Australian strikes in the 1890s: the 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute, followed by the 1891 Shearers strike, and the 1894 Shearers strike.

A Labour Council had formed again by 1903, but in 1911 all affiliates transferred to the Australian Labour Federation. In January 1914 the ALF effectively dissolved, as many of its affiliates had been swallowed by the Australian Workers Union, and a new organisation formed midyear called the Brisbane Industrial Council. Other inter-union organisations included the Eight Hours Union and the Brisbane Trades Hall Board, responsible for managing Brisbane Trades Hall. During the First World War closer unity between labour movement organisations was explored culminating in a conference in September 1918 attended by 42 unions adopting an amalgamation scheme. After lengthy negotiations, on 12 April 1922 the Queensland Trades and Labour Council was established by 46 unions.

In 1993 the organisation was renamed the Australian Council of Trade Unions Queensland Branch to reflect its primary function and role. The name again changed in 1999 to Queensland Council of Unions to rebuild its local identity as a peak organisation for Queensland trade unions.

Other important industrial disputes in Queensland include:

Currently two major unions in Queensland affiliated to Labor Right are not members of the QCU. These are the Australian Workers Union and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association.

[edit] Labour Day

On 1 March 1858 stonemasons working for John Petrie won the eight hour day, which was first commemorated on 1 March, 1865. Initially only those workers who had achieved an eight hour day were allowed to march in Eight Hour Day processions. By 1890 at least 11 unions had achieved significant reduction in hours and improvement of conditions and all workers were allowed to participate in the march from 1890.

During the 1891 Shearers Strike in Barcaldine, striking shearers held a procession on May Day, 1 May 1890, with the first Brisbane May Day march in 1893. Eight Hour Day was formally changed to the first Monday in May in 1901, when it was gazetted as a public holiday by the Queensland Government. In 1912 the day was renamed Labour Day.

The Labour Day march in Brisbane is an organised procession of the Australian labour movement which parades through the streets of Brisbane ending at a park where a festival takes place to entertain participants and their families. In 2004 the march was led by Peter Beattie, Labor Premier of Queensland, and Australian Labor Party members of parliament, followed by trade union groups and floats interspersed with marching bands.

[edit] External links