Founded 1917 Country Australia | Date dissolved 1950 | |
Full name Permanent and Casual Wharf Labourers' Union of Australia Merged into Waterside Workers' Federation | ||
The Permanent & Casual Wharf Labourers Union of Australia (PCWLU) was an Australian union for maritime labourers.
The Union was established in 1917 in opposition to the Waterside Workers Federation of Australia. Branches were founded by "loyalists" in Sydney in response to the General Strike of 1917 and amalgamated in 1919. The union was not affiliated with Trades Hall, and was registered in 1926 under the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1904), and was reregistered in the following year.
Conflict with the WWF erupted into physical violence in 1931 on the steamer Kowarra moored at Lee Wharf in Newcastle. In 1946 the union applied for affiliation with its rival but was rebuffed on the basis that they were communist-controlled. In 1950, the PCWLU merged with its rival Waterside Workers Federation of Australia and was eventually deregistered.
Officials
Officials included: