Laurie Carmichael against the penal powers

This pamphlet is the first item relevant to the 1960 wages and conditions struggles the use of “penal powers” against workers to help the employers win those disputes.

Arguably, it marks the first appearance of Laurie Carmichael on the national stage.

The notorious “penal powers” were a mechanism in the then “Conciliation and Arbitration Act” used by the commissioners to force workers not to continue with industrial action they were using to strengthen their hand in bargaining overt wages and conditions, and sometimes other matters. During a dispute the commissioner(s) could order the workers to return to work. If they did not, the commissioner could threaten or fine their union to force their return, with no gain.

IN about 1960 Laurie Carmichael started discussions among the left Victorian unions to develop what would become a national policy and strategy to defeat these penal powers.

In a lecture to Organising Works Trainees at the Clyde Cameron College in the mid to late 1990’s, Carmichael described the dispute from his point of view, citing it as an example of applied union strategy and the role of union leadership in developing the strategy over about ten years.

This pamphlet – “Abolish the Penal Powers – Freedoms Fight of ‘69” – provides rich detail about the curse of this struggle, conducted in the context of a hostile LNP government under Menzies.

There are quotes from Carmichael (Page 3 and 34) and a dramatic photo of him speaking without microphone to a mass rally of workers in front of the Industrial Court.

Carmichael was at the centre of the leadership coordinating the action and Clarrie O’Shea was the union leader who courageously agreed to bring the whole dispute to culmination by going to jail instead of authorising his union to pay the fines.