Food Preservers' Union of Australia

The Food Preservers' Union of Australia (FPUA) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1898 and 1992. It represented a broad range of production workers in the food processing industry, including many female members.

History

Around 1898 a union of jam sauce and pickle workers formed, but only registered in 1911 as the Jam Sauce Pickle & Food Preserving Employees' Union of Australia. In 1916 it changed its name to the Amalgamated Food Preserving Employees' Union of Australia. The union was insignificant in organising food workers until 1922, when it was reorganised under the leadership of Percy Clarey, a Victorian. The union changed its name again in 1929 to the Food Preservers' Union of Australia. While it had fluctuating membership due to the seasonal nature of canning work, the union was one of the few which maintained a strong presence in rural Australia.^[1]

In the latter part of the 20th century the union, and particularly its Victorian branch led by Tom Ryan, became closely associated with the left wing of the Australian labour movement. During the 1980s the FPUA played a prominent role in opposing the Prices and Incomes Accord, an agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and federal Labor government to restrict wage increases in order to reduce inflation.^[2] In 1983 FPUA members at the Heinz factory near Melbourne went on strike - in response, the federal government sought to exclude them from National Wage Increases mandated under the Accord.^[2] In 1992 the union merged with the Confectionery Workers' Union to form the Confectionery Workers & Food Preservers Union of Australia. Two years later in 1994 this union also amalgamated, this time with the Automotive, Metals & Engineering Union, to form the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).

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