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COOPERATION AND LABOUR MANAGEMENT AT ELECTROLYTIC ZINC AND CAOBURV-FRY-PASCALL BETWEEN 1918 AND 1939. by Ruth Barton. B.A.(Hons.) Submitted in FulFillment oF the requiremnets For the degree oF Master or Arts. University oF Tasmania. March 1989. CONTENTS. 1. Introduction. 1 8. Welfare at Electrolytic Zinc. 48 3. Industrial Relations at Electrolytic Zinc. 109 4. Welfare at Cadbury-Fry-Pascall. 808 8. Industrial Relations at Cadbury-Fry-Pascall. 883 8. Conclusion. 888 7. Bibliography. 898 This thesis contains no material which has been accepted ror the sward or any other degree or diploma in any university, and, to the best or my knowledge and belier, the thesis contains no copy or paraphrase or material previously published or written by any other person, except where due rererence is made in the text or the thesis. I would like to thank the ConFectioners Union, the Federated Ironworkers Association, E.Z and Cadbury For permission to use their records, end the staFF at the archives and libraries I used including the State Archives oF Tasmania, Melbourne University Archives, Australian University Archives OF Business end Labour, the Latrobe Library, E.Z Library and the University of' Tasmania Archives. Thanks must go to Kay Daniels For the direction end supervision she provided during her brieF interludes in Tasmania, and to Richard Ely For his thoughtFul comments and supervision during the Final period oF this thesis. Lastly I would like to thank. my Friends who dragged me back From the edge oF despair end convinced me that what I was doing was worthwhile. ABSTRACT. In the period between the First World War and the Second World War, the rirms or Cadbury-Fry-Pascall (Cadbury) and the Electrolytic Zinc Company or Australia Ltd. (E.Z) were unusual because they had extensive welrare schemes and an almost complete absence or industrial conrlict in an era that sometimes experienced quite violent industrial action. The coincidence or these two rectors was not accidental. Cadbury and E.Z had interpreted the bitter i.ndustrial conrlict at the end or the First World War was not really a demand ror more money but .a protest against their living conditions. The two rirms believed it was their obligation to cooperate with their workers and supply them with housing and other welrare benerits. This, they thought, would result in a content, committed and erricient workrorce. The crux or both these companies wslrars programmes was the planned creation or model industrial villages. The Cadbury scheme at Claremont and the E.Z scheme at Lutana both railed to reach the seals their creators had envisaged. This was basically because the companies did not want to bear the expense or building houses, and the workers did not want to live in the company sites. The other aspect o~ the wel~ere programme was the provision or medical schemes, pension ~unds and sporting and recreational activities and ~ecilities. These schemes were well patronised end engendered in employees e ~eeling o~ commitment to the company. At both Cadbury and E.Z unionism was weak. This was in part because joint employer/employee bodies, such as the Works Committee at E.Z and the Factory Committee at Cadbury, undertook functions that are usually carried out by the unions. The workers at E.Z came under the Tasmanian Wages Board System, which o~ten awarded lower wages and longer hours then ~ederal Arbitration Court awards. Union attempts to gain coverage under the ~ederal awards were successively defeated, thereby making union membership appear irrelevant. The workers et Cadbury were covered by two separate federal Arbitration Court awards ror the men and woman. The awards were structured around the organisation o~ work at Cadbury, and classified women's work as unskilled and men's work as skilled. The er~ect o~ the sexual division o~ labour perpetrated by Cadbury was to make it di~~icult to organise the women and defined them, rather than the Company, as a threat to the men's wages and conditions. This was reflected in the unions tendency to fight amongst themselves rather than engage Cadbury. Overall the cooperative welrsre centered industrial relations policies or Csdbury and E.Z enabled them, with the assistance or the state, to menage thei~ labour rorce in such an errective manner they were able to virtually avoid industrial conrlict ror twenty years. Abbreviations Used In The Text. A.B.L. Australian National University Archives or Business and Labour. A.O.T. Archives OFFice Or Tasmania. A.E.U. Amalgamated Engineering Union. A.L.P. Australian Labor Party. A.S.E. Amalgamated Society or Engineers. A.W.U. Australian Workers Union. B.H.A.S. Broken Hill Associated Smelters. B.L.F. Builders Labourers Federation. Cadbury. Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Pty. Ltd. c.c. Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Pty. Ltd. Claremont. C.F.P. Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Pty. Ltd. E.Z. Electrolytic Zinc Company or Australia Proprietary Ltd. F.C.A.A. Federated ConFectioners Association or Australia. F.C.U. Female ConFectioners Union. F. I .A. Federated Ironworkers Association. M.U.A. Melbourne University Archives. U.A.P. United Australia Party. U.T.A. University or Tasmania Archives. z.w.u. Zinc Workers Union. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. This thesis looks at two Hobart rirms - Cadbury-Fry- Pascall and the Electrolytic Zinc Company or Australia Pty. Ltd - and their industrial relations policies in the inter war years. These rirms were unusual amongst Australian rirms in that they structured their industrial relations policy around extensive welrare schemes at a time when this was the exception rather than the rule. This was as a response to a phenomenon Connell and Irving term 'working class mobilisation' 1 which had made these manuracturers reassess their means or labour management. Management broadened their means or control within the workplace and sought to control the workrorce away rrom the point or production by creating model industrial villages. The thesis aims to look at the circumstances and beliers behind Electrolytic Zinc's and Cadbury-Fry- Pascall's industrial relations policy taking the rorm they did; the consequences or that industrial relations policy and the role or the state through the operation or government organisations and the arbitration system in reinrorcing that policy. In order to understand this radical reorientation in industrial relations we must look at the political, economic and labour market context 1 R.W. Connell and T.H. Irving, Class Structure in Austral1an History, (Melbourne, 1980), p. 188. 8 in the 1880's rocusing upon the ideological end economic ascent or msnuracturing interests in this period. The period or time around the establishment or Electrolytic Zinc (E.Z) end Cadbury-Fry-Psscell (Cedbury) was a period or profound change in the Australien economy. The period between the wars marked Britain's retreat rrom the international economy to the Empire, where political servility was translated into concrete privileges ror British capital through agreements such as Imperial Trade Prererence. A rise in unemployment and the loss or export markets to countries such as America gave rise to a policy which aimed st the erricient reallocation or capital and )abour within the Empire. A number or local rectors intervened to make Australia an ideal country ror the scheme such as political stability, the scope ror expansion and development, the developmentalism or the state governments and their eagerness ror overseas capital and the inrrastructural demands thrown up by a growing urban consumer society.e Also relevant was the ract that Australia was experiencing a spate or relatively autonomous manuracturing development encouraged by the captive market situation or the war. The interaction or the conditions or economic decline in Britain and the a P.Cochrane, Industrialization and Dependence, (St. Lucia, 1880), p. 11. 8 emergence or broader manufacturing possibilities in Australia provided the basis for the growth or the metals sector and its subsequent development. It is against this background that E.Z. was established at Risdon, Tasmania, by the Collins House group. This was an alliance or Anglo-Australian lead-zinc interests which had largely been based in Broken Hill, and who took the name Collins House from its headquarters in Collins House 860-866 Collins St. Melbourne. Along with the Broken Hill Proprietary Company this group dominated heavy manufacturing development in the inter war period. Directors or the Collins House companies, such as the Baillieus, W.S. Robinson and Colin Fraser, formed part of Australia's and the Empire's ruling class. They were invited to sit on London boards, operating businesses sometimes unconnected with their Australian interests, and formed a link between Australian and British capital. They had strong links with the conservative Nationalist Party and were coupled, politically and socially, with influential groups in Britain. The establishment or E.Z. was in a real sense made possible by the First World War. Australia's rising war induced need for metals, coupled with shortages or imports, kept demand running ahead of production. Producers were not keen to change this situation for if 4 production ran ahead or demand then the price or metals would rall. The huge demand ror metals pushed metal prices up, with the average price or lead, zinc and copper in 1g17 being more than double the price or 1918. The high prices or metals, coupled with a conscious restriction or output, a policy or paying the pre-war rate or dividend and using prorits ror development works and equipment and thereby avoiding taxation, enabled Collins House to establish itselr as the wealthiest capitalist grouping in the Commonwealth. A rortuitous zinc deal with the British government made the establishment or E.Z. a certainty. The close relationship between the Nationalists and Collins House enabled the Prime Minister, W.M.