The Margins Dispute

Margins were skill-based rates paid to workers above the basic wage rate. For waterside workers, margins comprised approximately 20% of their wages in the early 1900s, but by the 1950s this had dropped to just 4.5% (Beasley 1996, p. 154). A new Award handed down in 1951 increased the basic wage but did not increase margins, which the union argued had not kept pace with inflation.

A decision to not increase margins for metal trades workers in 1951 had far reaching effects across the labour market and made the issue of margins one of the most significant industrial struggles throughout the 1950s. When the Waterside Workers' Federation’s application for an increase to margins was refused in February 1952, the union imposed a partial ban on overtime, supported by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. A dispute with the Arbitration Court reached the High Court and the union was fined £500. Nevertheless, the ban remained in place, although by July 1952 the union was forced to lift the ban after a suspension of attendance money placed a growing number of members in financial distress. 

From 23 January to 14 February 1956, the WWF was engaged in what was known as the Margins Dispute, which arose due to the lack of progress on margin increases. Negotiations with the Arbitration Court and directly with employers were both unsuccessful, with any increase offered by shipowners attached to a reduction in benefits and working conditions. The WWF argued that the refusal to grant an increase had resulted in a cut to wages with workers earning less than they were almost a decade earlier (Beasley 1996, p. 176). 

The result was a well-coordinated and highly successful campaign by the WWF, reaching out to communities across Australia for support, reminding them that margins were not just an issue negatively impacting waterside workers and their families. Throughout the campaign, members held more than 50 factory and street meetings every day and staged concerts and sporting matches (Beasley 1996, p. 176). Members travelled far and wide to speak with workers, particularly across the coalfields, with thousands of leaflets distributed across Australia. Women and women’s committees were highly effective and the WWF Fremantle Branch Women’s Committee made history by being the first women to attend a WWF stop-work meeting (Beasley 1996, p. 180).

The Holt Government threatened to use the military as strikebreakers. The ACTU, which had been providing support to the WWF, changed its position and recommended union members return to work and apply to the Arbitration Court for a determination, despite the past lack of success with this strategy. The ACTU’s position was widely condemned and in Melbourne, 2,000 wharfies and their families marched on the ACTU headquarters. 

WWF General Secretary Jim Healy and the Federal Committee, ultimately decided to end the strike. Beasley (1996, p. 181) suggests that Healy recognised the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the ACTU while also recognising that the dispute was unwinnable. This way it was possible to make the ACTU look like the ones who had given in rather than the union. Wharfies returned to work but in February 1956 the union was successful in winning a variety of benefits including an increase in attendance pay from 16 to 24 shillings, an increase in minimum attendance pay from four to six hours, an increase in margins of eight pennies an hour, five paid sick days a year and payment for ten public holidays in worked (Beasley 1996, p. 182).  

References

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