History of the Wellington Trades Hall
The Trades Hall has a long and colourful history as a central hub for Union action in the nation's capital. Today, its ground floor also acts as a museum to house significant artefacts of Union history.
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The Foundation Stone
These are the original and subsequent stones laid to commemorate the opening and re-opening of the Hall. The Trades and Labour Hall was built to be the home of the New Zealand trade union movement and the Labour Party. It later became Wellington Trades Hall when the Labour Party moved to their own premises in 1939. The foundation stone for the Trades and Labour Hall was laid by Harry Holland, the leader of the Labour Party, an MP, and an avowed left wing socialist. The opening of a complex of three buildings was considered a great event for New Zealand workers. There were celebrations lasting four days to mark the event and a 20 page special edition of the New Zealand Worker was published. The entire construction project was described by the Trades and Labour Council as a venture ‘easily the greatest undertaken by the [labour] Movement in this country up to the present time.’ In pronouncing it as ‘one of the steps which opens up the way… [to] a Government that will organise an industrial, political, and social system in which all shall contribute according to their ability, and shall receive according to their needs’, Labour Party secretary (and future prime minister) Walter Nash saw its presence as a sign of the party’s progress in the ascension to government. Samuel Parnell & the 8-Hour Day 1893 Samuel Duncan Parnell is credited with founding the eight-hour working day in New Zealand. The Welsh socialist Robert Owen first advocated the 8-hour day in the early 19th century. Parnell refused to join a London carpenters union in 1834 when the union said that an 8-hour day was an impossible demand. Parnell landed in Wellington on 8 February 1840 and was determined that the long hours demanded by employers in London would not apply in New Zealand. He was offered work but said he would only take the job on the condition that the working day would be eight hours. With a shortage of tradesmen, the employer had no choice but to agree. Six more ships with settlers arrived during 1840-41. The workers on each of these ships were approached by Parnell and others. All accepted their 8 hour day. In October 1840, a meeting of workers in Wellington resolved that any worker who refused to accept an eight-hour day would be “ducked in the harbour.” In 1841, a road was under construction to the Hutt. The workers, ordered to work longer hours, threw down their tools. The employer conceded and one of the first strikes in New Zealand successfully limited a day’s work to eight hours. The 8-hour day spread to Dunedin and then Auckland although it did not apply to all workers. Many employers, such as the textile industry with many women workers, demanded more hours than 8 per day. Working hours were described as “sweating.” Parnell was so admired by workers in Wellington that he was guest of honour at the first labour-day demonstration in Wellington on 28 October 1890. After his death, a committee was established to create a public memorial to Parnell, which is the plaque on display. At various times employers succeeded in getting longer hours, for example during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Unions like the Printers led by Ken Baxter fought to reestablish the 8-hour day in the 1930s. A solidarity strike of the Female Printers Assistants Union supported the male Printers Union industrial action. In the early 1990s, the 8-hour day then enshrined in law was repealed with the passing of the Employment Contracts Act. This was part of the legal changes aimed at undermining the ability of unions to protect wages and conditions at work resulting in greater poverty for many working people. Since then there been no legal limit to the hours that can be imposed in employment agreements by the employer other than what a union negotiates in a collective agreement. The Fallen The Hall houses portraits of those trade unionists who have been killed in the struggle for worker's rights. Fredrick Evans was murdered in Waihi by strike breakers in 1912 while defending the Miners Union Hall from their attack. No one was arrested for this crime. Ernie Abbott died in the bombing of Wellington Trades Hall in 1984. In the forensic examination of the bombing police identified pages of the Evening Post published 7 years earlier that had been used to pack the empty spaces in the suitcase bomb. A police raid on a suspect’s house found the issues of the Evening Post with the bomb pages missing. He was never charged. The motive for the bombing was widely considered a terrorist attack on the trade union movement engendered by the anti-union policies and rhetoric of the National Muldoon led government. Christine Clarke was killed by a driver who tried to drive through a port workers picket line in Lyttelton in 1999. The driver was initially convicted of manslaughter. In a second trial he was acquitted. The portraits were painted by Heleyni Pratley as part of the project to earthquake strengthen the building and marking its history. Click to enlarge From left: Fredrick Evans - The Fallen Murdered At Waihi by Strike Breakers in 1912 by Heleyni Partley Oil on canvas | 65 x 35 cm | 2018 Christine Clarke - The Fallen (Killed by a river who tried to drive through a port workers picket line in Lyttelton in 1999) by Heleyni Partley Oil on canvas | 65 x 35 cm | 2018 Ernie Abbott - The Fallen by Heleyni Pratley Oil on Canvas | 45 x 56 cm | 2018 1932 - Police Baton Charge during the Great Depression During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the government demanded that the unemployed perform “relief work” such as road building if they wanted money to live. Relief wages were poor and often the workers had to live on the side of the road they were building. Wellington relief workers tried to improve their welfare and demonstrated at parliament. The next day there were too many to meet in Trades Hall to discuss further action so the meeting moved to an empty paddock in Cuba Street. The police broke up that relief workers meeting by a mounted baton charge. It was May 1932. In the surrealist style, the painting starts from an iconic photo of the baton charge. The water represents the ever rising tide (with ebbs and flows) of the workers’ movement for social justice, and the fact that many of the relief workers had been seafarers before losing those jobs. The painting depicts other events on the day including a representation of Bill Gillespie, in the foreground, who said it was one of the proudest moments of his life when he pulled a baton-wielding policeman off his horse. The injured were treated in the Trades Hall foyer, depicted to the right, which according to one observer resembled a military dressing station. The painting is by Heleyni Pratley who previously worked in Trades Hall as a union organiser. Trades Hall Room Directory Each room in the Trades Hall is named after a trade unionist who worked in the Hall. Some are well known identities, others are remembered only by friends and family. Eventually a short biography of each person will be posted outside the room that bears their name. Videos Showing at the Hall The Hall is currently showing three short films on the ground floor booth. Solidarity, Democracy, Monopoly - Union principles A Union delegates training video that combines clips from New Zealand industrial disputes, well-known Hollywood films and a speech to explain the effective principles of trade unionism. The Hatred Campaign A film on the bombing of Wellington Trades Hall in 1984. It discusses the political atmosphere at the time which led to the bombing. Visitors can sit on a chair made from wood recovered from the bomb blast to watch the film. 100 years of struggle – the Seafarers Union The Seafarers Union (now merged to form the Maritime Union of NZ) was at the centre of every major industrial dispute during its first 100 years. The film traverses this history. Equal Pay Strike Clerical Workers in the motor industry went on strike in 1986 to fight for equal pay. This was part of their union’s campaign to try to promote equal pay for work of equal value for women workers. Motor industry women clerical workers, with the same level of qualification as male tradesmen, were paid less – a rate based on discrimination against women to the benefit of the employer. The strike lasted a month and saw over a thousand workers, mostly male, suspended when they refused to do the duties of the striking clerical workers in solidarity with the strike. Eventually the workers picket concentrated on Todd Motors in Porirua. The assembly plant was totally surrounded by parked cars to stop the company taking its vehicles to market. The dispute was won when equal pay was agreed for the motor industry. The workers held an awards ceremony that celebrated some of the picket line incidents including a cup awarded to the Clerical Union advocate for grabbing a managing director by his tie to urge negotiations rather than trying to break the picket line, and a medal given to a picketer for breaking a car window as it was driven through a picket line. While this strike was a success wage discrimination against female workers persists. Toby Hill – Anti-Nuclear Warships Industrial Action 1976 Toby Hill became a waterside worker in 1938 and in 1942 was elected as national secretary of the Waterside Workers’ Union. In February 1944 another militant, Jock Barnes from Auckland, was elected the union’s national president. Barnes and Hill were denounced by the press, politicians and employers as ‘wreckers’, ‘dictators’ and ‘instruments of communist policy’. The defeat of the Watersiders Union in the 1951 lockout led to Hill being blacklisted by employers in Wellington. He found it difficult to get regular work being hounded from job to job. Hill resurrected his union career in the 1960s. He became secretary of several unions, including the Federated Cooks and Stewards’ Union of New Zealand. He was president of the Wellington Trades Council from 1967 to 1977. One of the last disputes Toby Hill was involved in was in 1976, when the maritime unions prevented the United States nuclear warship Truxtun from berthing in Wellington by striking. New Zealand unions had adopted a nuclear free policy, strongly supported by maritime unions taking strike action when nuclear ships visited. Toby Hill was a leader of the first such strike. TV News Reporter: “Mr Hill. When will the unions be going back to work?” Toby Hill: “When they get that death ship out of the harbour!” The Lange Labour government banned nuclear warship visits in the 1980s. New Zealand unions have backed many other international movements for peace and social justice. A video of Toby Hill at work during the 60s and 70s can be viewed on this website. 1951 Waterfront Lockout In February 1951, Watersiders throughout New Zealand were locked out by employers for refusing to work overtime. The government imposed harsh emergency regulations and deregistered the union. Troops and strike-breakers were used to work the wharves and the government actively promoted the formation of new, compliant unions in every port. The Federation of Labour, supported by the majority of unions, did not back the Watersiders. The Watersiders held out for 22 weeks, loyally supported by a minority of other unions, before conceding defeat. At the start of the dispute the National government cabinet met with US politician JF Dulles. Following that meeting the emergency regulations were issued and the US Central Intelligence Agency’s airline commenced operations in New Zealand to shift dispute bound cargo between the North and South Island. This intervention arose as part of the “cold war” – New Zealand was aligned with the USA in the Korean war against the spread of socialism. The emergency regulations made published support for the Watersiders Union illegal giving the police power to seize publishing equipment and leaflets. For example, they made a number of failed raids to try to get Chip Bailey’s typewriter, now on display, which he hid behind a false wall in his pantry. The regulations forbade giving food, even to the children of Watersiders Union members. In some schools, this saw the children at lunchtime separated into watersiders’ children, and the rest, so that watersiders children would not be given any food by other children. Sound clips with accompanying photos about this, and other effects of the regulations and the struggle, can be viewed on this website. 1984 British Miners Aid Wellington Unions raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support British miners during their 1984 strike against pit closures. The poster is the original, signed by the Miners’ leader Arthur Scargill and British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. It was used for screen-printing a fund raising poster. International Union Federations exist to foster solidarity between unions especially during disputes. New Zealand unions have made many such contributions to the struggles of workers overseas. Trades Hall Bombing 1984 On Tuesday, 27 March, 1984, a bomb was placed outside room 3, George Thompson’s print room. Pat Kelly, Trades Council President, saw it but did not pick it up because he was carrying a load of George’s leaflets directed at breaking the government’s wage freeze. That evening, Wellington Trades Hall caretaker Ernie Abbott was locking up for the day. At 5.19pm he picked up a suitcase which had been left unattended for several hours. The movement triggered a bomb and Mr Abbott was killed almost instantly. Police believe the explosive was equivalent to three sticks of gelignite. The force of the explosion was considerable and required a detailed scene examination. Mr Abbott was the sole victim of the attack and despite numerous investigations, police have always struggled to identify a motive for the bombing. The investigation was re-opened in 2019. Motor Industry Paid Sick Leave George Thompson came from the motor industry and took part in the many struggles, one of the most celebrated to establish 10 days paid sick leave in the early 1970s. At the time only public servants had sick pay. According to workers’ legend the dispute was only settled when GM got permission from head office in the USA. Mitsubishi twice tried to cut back the sick leave by lockouts in the 1990s but failed. The government decided to close the motor assembly industry down in the 1990s – the last link of the GM Trentham plant production chain is on display with a photo from a GM picket line. The motor industry was a big employer in Wellington helping to set the prevailing wage rates in the region. In its heyday the motor vehicle assembly industry provided 3% of New Zealand’s Gross Domestic Product before the elimination of tariffs saw the foreign owned companies close their manufacturing operations in New Zealand. Tariffs paid on foreign assembled vehicles made them more expensive than those made in New Zealand. According to successive governments, the tariff was subsidising the industry’s jobs in New Zealand at the expense of new car buyers and should be removed. Tariff reductions have adversely impacted jobs and earnings in many industries that were originally established with government support to help protect living standards from the impact of international market down-turns. 1981 Springbok Tour Protest Unions in Wellington were an important part of the coalition opposing the Springbok tour. Union opposition to sporting contact with apartheid South Africa started in 1948. An edition of The Transport Worker in that year argued it was wrong for the All Blacks to tour in South Africa without Maori players, as required by the South Africans. During the tour, because of police batoning of demonstrators, a set of body armour was devised to protect the demonstrators against police violence: Construction helmet, cardboard tube chest protectors that were made in Trades Hall (and were a lot stronger than that sounds), jandal collarbone protectors, and rolled up newspaper shin pads. A voluntary strike was timed to support the first demonstration during the Tour. Thousands of union members took part. Trade Union worker opposition to the Tour was so strong in Wellington it even had the effect of persuading some prominent employer representatives that they too, morally must take part in demonstrations. A video on the demonstrations can be viewed on this website. Union Sports 1932 For many years during the 20th century workers’ social lives were organised through sports and their union. Trophies were contested, some of which are on display. These include the EJ Carey Challenge Shield for relay races contested between unions from after World War 1, the Leah Shield for rugby league contested among public passenger transport unions, and the Coachworkers Cup contested between motor assembly plant workers for rugby. The Charter of the Wellington Trades Council 1937 The Charter of the Wellington Trades Council was issued by the Federation of Labour which operated out of the Trades Hall up to the 1970s. The Wellington Trades Council under its long serving leaders – Fintan Patrick Walsh, Toby Hill and Pat Kelly - was very influential in leading the struggles of unions to improve living standards and working conditions. Ernie Abbot 1984 The Ernie Abbot room is the Trades Hall’s Executive Committee room. It contains a poster of Ernie Abbott with the words “If blood be the price of your cursed wealth, good God we have bought it fair”. The same words were carried by a demonstration of unionists in Auckland at the time of the murder of Fred Evans in 1912. Over the road from Trades Hall is a park where Ernie and his dog Patch would often sit. There is a plaque commemorating his death. The tree planted in this memorial is a Tōtara. Rest in peace, Ernie. |
To view these exhibitions and more, visit the Wellington Trades Hall at 126 Vivian Street, Te Aro.