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Produced and published by the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Published July 2008
Published July 2008
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The peak council of the Victorian trade union movement represents some 400 000 workers through 34 affiliated unions and eight regional trades and labour councils. Affiliated unions, in proportion to their size, nominate delegates to attend the monthly council meetings, while trades and labour councils nominate one delegate each. A smaller executive council meets fortnightly. The Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) is an affiliate of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The VTHC secretary speaks for the council on all matters affecting its members.
This 'parliament of labour' occupies an imposing building at the corner of Victoria and Lygon streets, Carlton South, on an 1858 Crown Land Grant of 1 acre (0.4 ha). The original 1859 Trades Hall and Literary Institute building was replaced, in stages, by the current structure between 1875 and the mid-1960s. A Trades Hall Committee was established during the building workers' campaign for an eight-hour day in 1856. It became the Trades Hall Council with the opening of the Trades Hall in 1859, and in 1884 the Melbourne Trades Hall Council. Initially representing craft unions, it grew in size and scope as industrial and general unions emerged towards the end of the 19th century. It has co-ordinated many campaigns to defend workers' rights. These have included the continuing movement for shorter working hours, the anti-sweating agitation leading to the 1882 Tailoresses' strike, the right to organise and bargain collectively in the 1890 Maritime Strike, the 1969 fight against penal sanctions and the attack on trade unions in the 1998 maritime lock-out. It has also been associated with many public philanthropic organisations such as hospitals, some of which are listed on honour rolls in the hall's Victoria Street entrance. During the last 100 years it helped create, and house, the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. It also supported the creation of the Arbitration Court as a tribunal to resolve disputes and give legal status to industrial conditions. Despite difficulties during the depressions of the 1890s and 1930s, and an internal split in the late 1960s, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, its title since 1970, remained an important institution in the industrial affairs of Melbourne.
In responding to contemporary challenges facing trade unions, the VTHC has maintained its traditional roles of coordinating, supporting and advising affiliates on industrial and related political matters. Leigh Hubbard, appointed secretary in 1995, sought to broaden its vision by making it an advocate on environmental, social and cultural issues that affect workers as citizens. As many affiliated unions have now moved to their own office buildings, Trades Hall has become more a centre for cultural activities associated with the labour movement and is presently undergoing heritage restoration.