Federated Clerks Union of Australia further records

MLMSS 10960

fonds

Approximately 1950-1970

9606032

1.12 metres of textual material (7 boxes)

The FCU was formed in 1911 by 107 clerical workers in Melbourne. At this time offices were still staffed mainly by male clerks, though women were entering this field in increasing numbers. Wages and working conditions were very poor, with male clerical workers earning less than the basic wage of 48 shillings a week and women entitled to only half the male rate.

In 1912 in Victoria, a female section was established within the FCU to organise the female clerical workforce and campaign for equal pay for women in the industry, led by one of the pioneering women of the Australian Labor movement, Ellen Mulcahy.

A federal union was formed by registering the FCU with the Commonwealth Arbitration Court and by 1920 there were branches of the union in all states.

Membership grew rapidly, in part due to the recruitment of clerks temporarily employed by government departments during World War 1, but it struck serious difficulties during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Membership grew again when tally clerks, the traditional backbone of the FCU membership received a federal award in 1937. The award covered permanent and casual tally clerks working for shipping companies in the ports of NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. In 1942 the FCU won a new award for thousands of Commonwealth temporary clerks working in the army, navy and airforce departments. The following year tally clerks received a new federal award covering all states. After World War Two more federal awards were achieved in the oil, airlines and wool industries. By 1950, membership had reached almost 53,500. In 1974 membership reached a peak of 110,000.
Source: The Services Union

Newsletters produced by the branch of the Union responsible for wharf work, in particular Tally Clerks, during a period of considerable change on the Sydney waterfront. The first of these newsletters coincides with the rise of factions within the union of communists and Movement workers and by the end, of the introduction of containerisation. Most of the newsletters are mimeographed on foolscap. There are duplicates and runs are incomplete, and dating is uncertain. (Boxes 1-2)
Tally, produced for Tally Clerks on the wharfs. Mid-1950's to mid-1960's;
Branch news, a Waterside Workers newsletter for Sydney branch members, 1960's;
Buoy, newsletter of the ALP combined waterfront union's committee, 1950's (sporadic issues);
The Maritime Vigilante, 1950's (sporadic issues);
Wharfie, a communist publication, 1960's, (sporadic issues);
The Beacon, a communist publication, 1950's;
The Clerk, newsletter of the Federated Clerks Union, waterfront edition, 1950's and 1960's, (sporadic issues).

Minutes and correspondence from branches around Australia, and minutes from the Executive based in Sydney (Boxes 3-7)
Central Executive minutes 17 April 1946 - 18 December 1946; 8 January 1947 - 17 December 1947; 7 January 1948 - 21 December 1949; 04 January 1950 – 21 December 1951
Branch Executive minutes 23 July 1945 – 13 February 1946
Central Council minutes 18 April 1942 - 28 October 1945
Central and Southern Queensland Branch Council minutes 20 May 1945 - 20 February 1949
Mixed minutes (Central and Southern Queensland Branch Council, Branch Executive, State Executive) minutes 10 January 1947 - 22 December 1947, 20 January 1948 – 21 December 1948
Federal Executive minutes 27 March-05 April 1949 (1 meeting)
Three copies of "Pacific Post", a mimeographed newspaper produced by and for troops based in Sydney 1944. (Box 7)

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