The 1951 waterfront dispute was probably the single most notorious event in New Zealand industrial relations history. Scenes of violence erupted on a scale New Zealand had rarely experienced. As well as proving to be a major social milestone in New Zealand ’s development, the 1951 waterfront dispute was also a significant watershed for the union movement.
The dispute was the culmination of a number of factors. Post-war inflation was high and unions pressured employers to pay substantial increases in wages. Consumer goods were in short supply and high demand. Prices went up, wages went up, demand went up, and the spiral kept escalating. The Government’s chief interest lay in trying to control that escalation. This set it at odds with the union movement.
The years of the first Labour Government had left the union movement as a force to be reckoned with. But it also benefited from strong and visionary leadership, notably by Harold (Jock) Barnes of the Waterside Workers’ Union. The waterside workers took issue with the Arbitration Court , arguing that the awards it issued were insufficient to reflect the inflationary pressures of the day.
Moderate unions remained committed to the arbitration process, but the watersiders and several other more militant unions broke away from the Federation of Labour and formed a rival body called the Trade Union Congress. This provided a focal point for discontent with the arbitration system.
A final, important factor was that working conditions on the waterfront were dire. The work was strenuous and physically exhausting. At times, the workers were caked in cement dust or lime. Occupational accidents causing death were common. The realities of working life on the waterfront left union members in no mood to compromise when it came to their pay and conditions.
The strike began after negotiations between the Waterside Workers Union and the port employers came to a standstill and the unions imposed an overtime ban to show their displeasure. This action, while provocative, was not enough in itself to seriously disrupt port operations.
The crisis came when the port employers responded by reducing the working week to 16 hours: in effect, locking the watersiders out. This had a significant impact on the ports’ operations, which in turn affected almost every importing and exporting business in New Zealand. The effects were far-reaching and public sympathy for the watersiders was limited.
The Government eventually responded by imposing the Waterfront Strike Emergency Regulations, which enabled it to take control of the wharves, use servicemen to do the watersiders’ work, and provide police protection for the new and more compliant watersiders’ unions that were encouraged to form. The Waterside Workers’ Union found itself deregistered and many of its members were banned from joining the new unions.
When the strike was finally broken, it had lasted 151 days (five months) and involved about 22,000 workers from unions as diverse as those representing freezing workers, drivers, seamen and miners.
