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Reassessing the Victorian Trades Hall 'Split' of 1967–73
Cathy Brigden*
The suspension of 27 unions from the Victorian Trades Hall Council (THC) from 1967 to 1973, colloquially referred to as the 'split', has long been regarded as a classic case of internal union conflict. Drawing on recent theoretical developments in the study of peak unions, this article seeks to provide a reassessment of this prevailing analysis by exploring dimensions of peak union power and purpose. Using the conceptual lens of collective union power and organisation power, the dispute between the unions and the THC leadership is re-examined. While these concepts enable more interrogation of the internal dynamics between the key participants, analysis of the dispute also locates it in the broader socio-political context of the period providing further insight into the nature of peak union power and purpose.
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| From the end of 1967 to mid-1973, 27 affiliates, mainly left-wing unions, were suspended from the Victorian Trades Hall Council (THC) in a dispute known as the 'split'. The THC 'split' is one of the most well known episodes in the THC's history, having been the subject of two articles, one of which, David Plowman's analysis published in this journal in 1979, was then reprinted in a book of readings on trade unions.1 In returning attention to the 'split', this article offers a re-interpretation of this internal dispute with a reassessment of Plowman's prevailing analysis. Dimensions of peak union power emerge as central and contested issues, and are examined by drawing on recent theorising about peak union power and purpose. |
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From a position of chronic under-theorising and indeed scant attention, Australian industrial relations scholars and labour historians have recently made significant advances in the study of peak unions.2 As Ellem and Shields have highlighted, two trajectories in the theoretical debates about peak unions have developed.3 One of these is the exploration of the multidimensional sources of peak union power and purpose while the second is the interrogation of internal power dynamics of peak unions through the conceptual lens of organisation power and collective movement power.4 This extended Hyman's analysis of how individual unions exercise 'power for' and 'power over' members to the peak union scale. The shift to the peak union scale requires recognition of the different power dynamics faced by peak unions, between the leadership and affiliates, between affiliates and factions, in the relationships with peak unions with which it is affiliated, as well as political parties. By coupling the insights of Flanders' analysis of 'movement' and 'organisation' with Hyman's examination of 'power for' and 'power over' union members to unravel both how and why peak union power is exerted, these dimensions of peak union power can be reconceptualised as organisation power and collective movement power. |
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Peak unions' particular role in promoting 'power for' affiliates and union members goes to the heart of their role in maintaining and sustaining the notion and structure of a union movement, so that peak union purpose involves the 'pursuit, mobilization and expression of collective movement power'.5 Recasting 'power over' as organisation power highlights the organisational nature of the contesting of power within peak unions. Their intersection is evident 'when a peak union exerts organisation power over affiliates to exert, in turn, organisation power over their members in the pursuit of collective movement power for those affiliates'.6 While organisation power should not be understood as an end in itself but the means through which collective movement power is advanced, it is also clear that there is ground for contestation over how and by whom organisation power is exerted and how collective movement power is envisaged, constructed and articulated. |
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