Living Well: The Fight For Minimum Wage, Living Costs and Fair Working Conditions

Fighting for better work practices has always been a key activity of the unions. Beginning with the campaign for eight hour days, and continuing through the establishment of a minimum wage, unemployment measures, equal pay for women, and fair working conditions, the campaign for fair work practices remains a cause to be advanced. Landmark moments, such as the Harvester decision of 1907, which established a living wage based on the amount required for an average unskilled labourer and his family to live “in reasonable and frugal comfort”; the creation of the first Minister for Labor and National Service (later Employment) in 1940, indirectly addressing the problem of Great Depression unemployment with his major task of making “the most effective practical use of man-power and woman-power…to obtain the maximum war effort for Australia”; and the establishment of universal health care under the Whitlam Labor government in 1975; are interspersed among unsung decades of dogged campaigning and difficult circumstances accepted by the workers and their unions.[vii] This collection explores some snapshots of the involvement of Melbourne's Trades Hall in the fight for fair work during the 20s, 30s and 40s, surrounding the Great Depression where Australia’s devastated economy brought unions to the fore of national debate, and the World Wars left the working population damaged beyond compare. For more information about the campaigns for fairness in women’s working conditions, see ‘Women and the Unions: From Tailoresses to Equal Pay.’ For a history of the wider labour movement and the long-running fight for an eight-hour day, see ‘Eight Hours: The Victorian Trades Hall, Australian Unions And The International Labour Movement.’