History

The Case of the Packer Lift

By Dr Bridget Griffen-Foley - Department of History, University of Sydney

An industrial history of Australian Consolidated Press looks into the media empire.

'Have you heard the story about the lift?', I am invariably asked when it emerges that I am writing about Sir Frank Packer and his company, Australian Consolidated Press.

It seems that nearly everyone over the age of 40 has an anecdote about Packer. The most popular story, of which there are endless variations, has Packer sacking a worker late one night for playing with the button of an ACP lift. R. S. Whitington, the author of a sycophantic Packer biography, David McNicoll, the long-time editor-in-chief of ACP, and Buzz Kennedy, the veteran Daily Telegraph journalist, are just three of the people who have provided accounts of the episode.

Given the popular fascination with the Packer family, it is extraordinary that neither Sir Frank Packer (1906-1974) nor ACP has attracted serious scholarly attention. In 1993 I began writing the first history of one of Australia's foremost media empires. The House of Packer: The Making of a Media Empire, will be published by Allen & Unwin this August. I am now completing a second book, entitled The Young Master: A Biography of Sir Frank Packer.

My work on Consolidated Press examines how Packer formed an unlikely partnership with the former Labor premier and federal treasurer, E. G. Theodore, in the 1930s; the editorial imperatives of the Australian Women's Weekly, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, the Observer and the Bulletin; the publications' shift to the right; the activities of renowned editorial figures such as George Warnecke, David McNicoll, Donald Horne and Ita Buttrose; business developments; the acquisition of newsprint supplies; clashes with censorship authorities; the introduction of new printing technologies; the emergence of the Nine television network; the role of Clyde and Kerry Packer within the empire; and relations with the Fairfax and Murdoch dynasties.

The House of Packer explores at some length the operation of workplace relations at Consolidated Press. It considers why R. C. Packer (the co-founder of Smith's Weekly and the Daily Guardian) and his son Frank lured high-profile journalists and executives to their stable while opposing incremental increases in award wages; working conditions at Consolidated headquarters; the social rituals of male and female journalists; the impact of new technologies on the health of printers; management's commitment to fostering young journalistic talent and training cadets; the reasons for, and the legacies of, the 1944, 1955 and 1967 newspaper strikes; Sir Frank's paternal and feudal managerial style; and the emergence of a more formal system of welfarism.

Poring over the records (the minute books, the correspondence files and the journals) of the Australian Journalists' Association, the Printing Industries Employees' Union and the Amalgamated Printing Trades' Employees' Union yielded one unexpected highlight. In 1955 the Printer reported on an 'Unusual Dispute' that had occurred at ACP. This article revealed the details of the lift story, which I had sometimes suspected may have been apocryphal.

At 11.30 p.m on Friday, 21 October 1955 Packer and McNicoll found themselves stranded on the third floor of the Consolidated Press building in Castlereagh Street as the lift sailed past them two or three times. Never known for his patience, Packer bounded down the steps and saw N.Slarke standing near the lift. Although Slarke denied that he was guilty of 'playing around with the lift', he was immediately given a fortnight's notice. On Saturday night, when Packer refused to unconditionally withdraw the notice of dismissal, the Consolidated Press chapel stopped work.

The chapel was understandably angered by Packer's high- handedness, but the PIEUA believed that the decision to stop work was illegal. Nevertheless, the union was unable to persuade its members at Consolidated Press that they should resume work. To complicate matters even further, there was a suggestion that Packer had suspended some journalists indefinitely; the Daily Telegraph's editor, King Watson, seems to have been as bewildered by the situation as the AJA.

On Monday, 24 October a compulsory conference was held before Mr Justice Gallagher and the parties held further talks. That afternoon Packer finally agreed to reinstate the unfortunate Slarke and 400 Consolidated Press printers voted to return to work. However, the company refused to pay employees for time lost during the bizarre dispute.

Although the chapel seems to have grudgingly let the matter rest there, the lift story still circulates in Sydney union, business and journalistic circles. The episode is seen as emblematic of Packer's capricious and autocratic managerial style; according to one of the myriad versions of events, the person dismissed was not even a Consolidated Press employee, but a postal worker!

In order to fill out the 'true' story, I would be delighted to hear from any readers of Workers' Online who know anything about Mr Slarke or his whereabouts.

  Know anything about the lift? We'll pass the info on!

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  Issue 22 contents

»	Workers' Rights Butchered
»	Unions Back Shaw Plan
»	Buddy�s Buddy Still Singing Blues
»	Labour Calls Labor to Account
»	Olympic Gear - Labor Standards Should Apply
»	Ship of Shame into Darling Harbour
»	Cardboard King Seeks Warehouse Showdown
»	Nurses Enter New Years Fray
»	University Under Fire For Union-Busting Tactics
»	Inquiry to Lift the Lid on Public Service Bargaining
»	Currawong Back on Agenda
»	APHEDA Seeks Campaign and Marketting Officer

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Youth Wages Campaign a Must for the Union Movement
»	Cheers for Piers
»	Cheers from Geneva

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