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EDITORIAL
Greg Patmore
| Labour History no. 90 contains a number of thought-provoking articles. The lead article by Ruth Ford considers the measures a woman worker took to cross the gender divide to obtain male wages in 1929 Australia. William Smith was exposed to be a female but the case challenged a legal system of wage determination which was based on gender. Leighton James and Ray Markey's article, concentrating on the differences and similarities between the Labor parties in the United Kingdom and Australia, continues the comparative focus on the two countries presented in the May 2005 issue. |
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The articles by Sandra Cockfield and Shawn Sherlock highlight the role of the state in Australian labour history. Sandra Cockfield finds that arbitration did not determine or dominate industrial relations at Metters' Stovemakers in New South Wales in the early decades of the last century; rank-and-file workplace militancy played an important role in achieving worker control in that workplace. Shawn Sherlock considers the limits of Labor's approach to state ownership in Australia through his examination of Labor's failed plans to establish a steel industry in North Queensland. |
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Robert Bollard's article redresses the neglect of the role that Victorian workers played in the Great Strike of 1917. The paper by Charles Fahey and John Lack looks at the way employers and workers dealt with the low levels of unemployment during the 1950s through their examination of the substantial surviving personnel records of Massey Ferguson at Sunshine near Melbourne. The data provides insights into topics such as labour turnover, the development of internal labour markets and the recruitment of migrant workers during this period of full employment. |
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| Ashley Lavelle refocuses our attention on the role that the anti-Vietnam War movement played in shifting the Australian Labor Party policy towards the withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam. Another concern of activists in the 1970s is discussed by Les Dalton who examines the framing of public policy regarding uranium mining by the Whitlam Labor Government through the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry presided over by Justice Russell Fox. The consideration of this topic is timely, given the current shift by the federal government towards exporting uranium to China. |
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Rory O'Malley views the 1979-85 wide comb dispute in the shearing industry as an early conflict between the New Right – which championed the deregulation of Australian industrial relations – and the Australian Workers Union – which enshrined the notion of `labourism' in Australia, with its emphasis on arbitration and the Labor Party. In the final refereed article in this edition, Nick Dyrenfurth re-examines the theoretical debate surrounding the role of class and language in Australian labour social history. |
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This issue introduces a new section of the journal which presents historical perspectives on current affairs. The federal government has recently undertaken major changes in the areas of civil liberties and industrial relations. The former are justified by the government in terms of the ongoing `war against terror' and the latter in terms of labour market reform. Labour History has invited two leading commentators to look at these matters. Laurence Maher deals with the subject of sedition, while Bradon Ellem tackles the industrial relations changes. |
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| Slavery, ethics, literature, and the environment are just a few of the subjects covered in the excellent selection of book reviews. Rae Frances, the President of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, provides another welcome President's Column updating developments concerning the Society. There are also reports on conferences and the opening of the new Centre of Fraternal Studies in Newcastle. |
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In November 2005, Labour History contained an article by Linda Colley entitled 'How Secure was that Public Service Job? Redundancy in the Queensland Public Service 1859-1993'. This article significantly overlaps another by the same author entitled 'The Use of Redundancy in the Queensland Public Service from 1859 to 1999: From Economic Necessity to Organisational Choice?', published in Labour and Industry, vol. 15, no. 2, December 2004. We apologise to Labour and Industry for this duplication. Labour History does not knowingly accept the submission of papers that are simultaneously under consideration by another journal or which have appeared elsewhere in any refereed publication. Such submissions contravene our published guidelines. |
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There have been some changes to the editorial team of Labour History. Terry Irving, who was on leave last year to spend time on a number of publishing projects, has decided to stand down from the Editorial Working Party. He will remain on the Editorial Board and I would like to thank Terry for his outstanding service to Labour History as Editor and Associate Editor. Sigrid McCausland who stood in for Terry last year will not be continuing on the Editorial Working Party. I would like to thank Sigrid for her valuable assistance during 2005. Finally, I would like to welcome Harry Knowles, who will replace Terry in the Editorial Working Party for the reminder of Terry's term. |
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In November 2006, Labour History will feature a section on `Co-operation and the Politics of Consumption', which will focus on activities relating to consumption such as credit unions and consumer co-operatives. Nikola Balnave and I will edit this thematic. |
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