The biggest industrial confrontation in New Zealand was the 1951 waterfront dispute and lasted 151 days with over 20,000 waterside workers and other union members out of work. This was the flashpoint after years of unrest and was critical because of the New Zealand economy's dependance on primary exports.
Depending on which side you were on - the watersiders and unionists or the farmers and employers - the opposing side were on the one hand communists and terrorists or, on the other, fascists, nazis or (gasp) National supporters. The employers and government saw the dispute as a strike and the watersiders saw it as a lockout. There was no meeting of minds.
After the deprivations and necessary governmental mandates during the Second World War the 1950s were shaping up to be more prosperous and the 'workers' rightly wished to share in the new wealth, freedom, improved working conditions and changing of social order. This was resisted by employers, people with vested interests (the wealthy, farmers and big business) and the National government. Using the backdrop of the Cold War between USSR and Western countries the watersiders were denounced as communists, saboteurs and terrorists even though there was no evidence of this.
New Zealand History - The 1951 waterfront dispute
'
The 1951 waterfront dispute', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/the-1951-waterfront-dispute, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 17-May-2017
In January 1951 the Arbitration Court awarded a 15% wage increase to all workers covered by the industrial arbitration system. This did not apply to waterside workers, whose employment was controlled by the Waterfront Industry Commission. The mostly British-owned shipping companies that employed the wharfies instead offered 9%, claiming that earlier waterfront wage increases should be taken into account.
The Waterside Workers’ Union protested by refusing to work overtime. The shipping companies in turn refused to hire them unless they agreed to work extra hours. When no agreement could be reached, union members were locked out. The nation’s wharves soon came to a complete standstill.
Arguing that New Zealand’s vital export trade was under threat, the National government declared a state of emergency on 21 February. The following day Prime Minister Holland warned that New Zealand was ‘at war’. On the 27th, troops were sent onto the Auckland and Wellington wharves to load and unload ships. Draconian emergency regulations imposed rigid censorship, gave police sweeping powers of search and arrest and made it an offence for citizens to assist strikers – even giving food to their children was outlawed.
Attempts at mediation were undermined by the ideologies, intransigence and egos of those involved. Sensing victory, the National government took a hard line with the unionists. Instead of simply forcing the wharfies to accept the original 9% increase, the government resolved to destroy the old Waterfront Workers’ Union and replace it with new unions in each port. As the dispute dragged on into winter, there was widespread intimidation and sporadic outbursts of violence.
On several occasions, unionist street protests were broken up by ranks of baton-wielding police. The worst incident occurred in Auckland on 1 June – dubbed ‘Bloody Friday’ – when police violently dispersed up to 1000 marchers in Queen Street. One victim suffered a suspected fractured skull, and 20 others had to be treated for lacerations, concussion and bruises.
By the end of May, with new unions of strike-breakers (denounced by unionists as scabs) registered in the main ports, the wharfies’ position was becoming increasingly hopeless. Eventually, after a five-month struggle, they conceded defeat on 15 July. Jock Barnes, meanwhile, had been sentenced to two months in prison for 'defaming' a police constable.
Militant unionism was dealt a crushing blow. Many watersiders were blacklisted (banned from working on the wharves) for years afterwards. Holland immediately called a snap election, which took place on 1 September 1951. The electorate delivered the government a resounding victory, with National winning 54% of the vote and four more seats than in 1949.
The defeat of the wharfies reasserted the FOL’s control over the New Zealand union movement. Bitterness between supporters of the watersiders and FOL leaders, such as Fintan Patrick Walsh, lingered for decades, even though Walsh himself adopted a more militant stance in later years. For many unionists, though, the watersiders’ loyalty card – bearing the words ‘stood loyal right through’ – was a prized badge of honour. More than half a century later, the 1951 dispute continues to hold a central place in the history and mythology of the New Zealand labour movement.
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That was in 1951
It is now 2022.
There is a small group of people, certainly smaller than the numbers of watersiders and unionists who faced the government of the day in 1951, who are challenging governmental mandates over Covid-19 restrictions and safety measures and who are bleating on about fairness and freedom while meanwhile impinging unfairly on Wellingtonians freedom of work, study and movement. It's a bit of a laugh really that their 'causes' are confused and confusing and that the majority of them are being led by their noses by ratbags who have their own anti Labour government and, some, anti any form of government agendas.
If it was 1951 the government and police wouldn't have been so understanding and stand-offish and would have moved them on quick-smart. I'm sure also that, in 1951, the watersiders and other unionists would have kicked these idiots in the arse and told them to spend their energy on real issues of unfairness and lack of freedom which are not connected to a governments responsible handling of a pandemic.
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