Immigration: White Australia and the Unions

Despite their progressive stance on economic issues, Victoria’s trade unions were also fiercely protectionist. Fearing exacerbation of Australian unemployment and preferential treatment for immigrants, the Trades Hall repeatedly called for limiting and controlling migration, both before and during the White Australia Policy. Though on occasion they approved migration when the economic circumstances required it, on the whole unions claimed that immigrants would “drive down wages” by having “six men competing for one job” so that “working men [would] fight…for jobs like dogs for a bone.” Either wages would be depressed, or employment would decrease: in both cases, it was highly undesirable for immigration to take place without heavy controls.[xiii] Thus, representatives from the Trades Hall were present at immigration hearings as early as the 1890s, and with influxes of migrants from southern and Balkan Europe after World War Two representing a relaxation of the White Australia Policy, objections rose to the perceived worsening economic situation. In this collection, we explore the complex and often antagonistic relationship between the Trades Hall, the labour movement, and immigration. For more on the Victorian labour movement’s international involvement, see ‘Eight Hours: The Victorian Trades Hall, Australian Unions And The International Labour Movement.’