In 1935, New Zealand ’s first Labour Government was elected, and they governed with as much reforming zeal as their liberal forebears. The next decade saw the development of what became known as the welfare state. Within the labour market, pre-depression wage levels were restored. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act was re-enacted and large-scale public works programmes provided work for many of the unemployed.
Union membership was made compulsory in 1936 and unions flourished. The Federation of Labour, New Zealand ’s central workers’ organisation, was formed in 1937 and unified the trade union movement. Delegates from 212 industrial organisations, representing 170,800 trade unionists, assembled in Wellington for the Industrial Unity Conference in response to a desire to unite the different sections of the trade union movement. The largest delegations came from two national trade union organisations – the Trades and Labour Councils' Federation and the Alliance of Labour. Three important unions, the New Zealand Workers' Union , the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union , and the Union of Railwaymen, were also well represented.
The Acting Prime Minister Peter Fraser formally opened the conference, which drafted the New Zealand Federation of Labour constitution. As with other New Zealand political bodies, plenary (complete) power was vested in the annual conference, to which all affiliated organisations had the right to send delegates. The conference elected the national council of the federation and its national executive, as well as deciding important policy matters.
From the late 1930s and throughout the Second World War, industrial relations in New Zealand stabilised. Both workers and employees enjoyed a period of relative calm. By the beginning of the 1950s, however, relations once more became tense.
