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Organising - Fifties Style

By Neale Towart

What do the new wave of organisers do? Pretty much the same hard slog that Audrey Petrie did in the 1950s around Sydney for the Hotel, Club and Restaurant Union (HCRU).

	Multiculturalism in the 1950s! - Audrey (front row third from left)

Her areas as a young 19 year old organiser included the cafeterias of David Jones, Grace Brothers and Farmers, Central Railway refreshment rooms, factory canteens and boarding houses. She worked closely with Flo Davis, Topsy Small and Vic Workman, whose stories have been told in Bread and Roses by Audrey Johnson. Audrey Petrie told of some of her experiences in Intimate Union (Pluto Press, 1998), the book she co-authored with husband Tom.

"There were few full-timers on my big jobs. Most were known as "mid-days" because they worked three hours at lunch time or three-quarters because they worked four and a half hours.

In general the wages were fairly poor.... There was little possibility of industrial action. When there was action, it was on the big jobs like the migrant hostels... or in some of the big clubs. ....The union depended on getting wage flow-ons through the Industrial Court. The conditions in the industry were largely the result of a deep commitment and vigilance by the officials to keep awards updated and to take up cases for non-payment of wages."

Getting experience then was without trade union training. "You were shown the job and generally had to fend for yourself."

"Organising on the job was difficult as it involved chasing up members in ones and twos and having to go back to the job if a member was off sick or didn't have any money. The union was opposed to employers making dues deductions. The HCRU was proud of its person-to-person contact, even if it meant less finance."

"Some of the bigger establishments anticipated that their workforce would be in the union and made it possible for the organisers to have right of entry. One such employer was Cahill's restaurant....I would go there at meal breaks or the shift changeovers and sit in the dressing room with my list of members. Some would come up and pay and have a chat, others would dodge me around the lockers."

Being an organiser was a great lesson in knowing when to turn the other cheek. Sometimes you had to cop the abuse and remain friendly, patiently arguing the union's cause. .... It wasn't a nine to five job either. Some of the coffee lounges or restaurants wouldn't be open until the evening. On the other jobs, like the railway refreshment rooms at Central, the train girls started from 5 o'clock on the morning trains. To catch them when the trains came in at night meant being at the railway at half past ten or eleven o'clock...."

"My members were women and often part-timers, such as mothers doing a few hours work while the kids were at school, students or women touring around the country...They saw no real purpose in joining the union and they were difficult to organise. However, on jobs with permanent staff, we found and always said, that if women took action they were the salt of the earth."

"The HCRU was involved in broader campaigns of the labour movement, such as support for May Day. ...In 1959, the union nominated Marie McKenny, a young Aboriginal woman who was a waitress at the NSW Golf Club, for the first May Day competition. The union appointed me Campaign Director and Marie and I went around the jobs to raise funds....Marie beat five candidates from "the big unions" such as the Wharfies and the BWIU. The HCRU was ecstatic with her winning the competition and due to Marie's popularity on the job and the support of the union's network of progressive, young Chinese members, the HCRU sent her to the Vienna World Youth Festival in 1959. Marie ended up marrying Peter Wong and became involved in the Australia China Friendship Society."

"Left unions took steps to promote union cultural activity and supported initiatives by the CPA. Before television people mixed at functions and this was an important part of union work.". There were various activities included the Wharfies Film Unit, New Theatre and Quality Films. Madeleine Kempster, with union support, collected and ran for several years a Children's Art Exhibition. Flo Davis, of the HCRU "was a great one for dancing and we organised dances and union picnics. Wharfie activist Harry Black and I were on a committee which put together a group of artists to perform at concerts for unionists in Sydney and Wollongong. The performers included wharfie Dick Hackett, and Gary Shearston, Chris Kempster and Alex Hood".

   Contact History Editor, Dr Lucy Taksa

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»	The Soapbox
»	The Locker Room
»	Trades Hall
»	Tool Shed

»	Political Hackers and the Law
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