February 28, 2024
Māori role in waterfront lockout remembered
A long time union advocate says Māori involvement is one of the little known stories of the 1951 Waterfront lock out.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day prime minister Sid Holland sent in troops to enforce a lock out by shipping owners.
Matt McCarten says the watersiders, who were one of the most militant unions, had banned overtime after being denied a pay rise given to other workers as wartime restrictions were lifted.
The National Government followed up with a series of draconian laws, including banning any publication of stories about the dispute and banning people from giving food or material support to locked out workers or heir families.
When the lock out finished after 151 days, union leaders were jailed and members were blacklisted from working on the wharves.
“About 40 percent of the workers were Maori and they spread throughout (the workforce) so Maori have always been the backbone of he trade union movement and of that strike but they haven’t been given the credit they deserve,” Mr McCarten says.