Amalgamation - The Birth of the Maritime Union of Australia

By the late 1980s, membership of the Waterside Workers' Federation had seriously declined. While the union maintained 44 branches, only 11 of these had a full-time official. Most branches had very small numbers and 75% of the union’s membership came from Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla (Beasley 1996, p. 278).

Against this backdrop, in 1988 the Australian Council of Trade Unions released a plan to consolidate over 300 trade unions into 20, with a requirement for unions to have a minimum membership of 10,000 (Beasley 1996, p. 282). With a deadline of reaching 10,000 members by March 1993 or facing deregistration, the WWF held amalgamation discussions with unions including the Australian Foremen Stevedores’ Association (AFSA) and Australian Supervising Stevedores’ Association (ASSA). After some negotiations, an amalgamation with the former was successful, and a section of the Federated Miscellaneous Workers’ Union also joined the WWF, but the WWF still sought further members and entered negotiations with Australia’s other oldest maritime union, the Seamen's Union of Australia. The SUA had undergone its own series of amalgamations with other maritime unions, including with the Marine Cooks', Bakers' and Butchers' Association of Australasia in 1981 and with the Federated Marine Stewards and Pantrymen's Association of Australasia in 1988.  

In 1989, both the SUA Committee of Management and WWF Federal Council issued unanimous resolutions supporting amalgamation. This agreement represented “an historic alignment of Australia’s premier maritime unions” (Beasley 1996, p. 283). However, there were issues to overcome before a successful amalgamation could be achieved. Most importantly, the two unions would need to agree upon a structure. The SUA was a highly centralised organisation, whereas the WWF was decentralised and organised around local branches with local officials. In response, the WWF established state branches that would facilitate amalgamation.

In April 1993, SUA and WWF members voted overwhelmingly in favour of amalgamation and on 1 July 1993, after much hard work and reorganisation, the two unions became the Maritime Union of Australia. The MUA was led by joint National Secretaries, John Coombs of the WWF and Tony Papaconstantinos of the SUA.  

References

Beasley, M 1996, Wharfies: A History of the Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia, Halstead Press, Rushcutters Bay.