
Dock wars: Class rebellion on Australia's wharves
Sunday 3:15 PM
Australia’s ports are its connection to global trade. This means dock workers, who can decide what passes through their ports and block ships entirely, have enormous power. Recognition of this power made the ports sights of some of Australia’s most important class struggles. From the Lumpers’ Union running Fremantle for the working class, to the maritime unions fighting nuclear power, the Vietnam War and South African Apartheid. Join the discussion to uncover some of the inspiring and instructive stories we need to rebuild that tradition today.
Recommended Readings
- Struggle, Solidarity and Unity: 150 Years of Maritime Unions in Australia
- Wharfies : a history of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia by Margo Beasley
- Chapter 5. Fremantle's 'Bloody Sunday': "The finest exhibition of solidarity in Western Australian history" in Radical Perth, Militant Fremantle
- War on the Waterfront: the fight to defend the MUA by Tom Bramble