Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (1906 - 1972)

When the Australasian Federated Butchers Employees’ Union was formed in 1905 to take advantage of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1904), a loose system of federal government was established.

New South Wales, 1922-1972
The origins of the New South Wales Branch of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union lie with the unions of urban journeymen butchers of the 1880s. Most of these unions failed to survive the depression years of the 1890s.

The Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union can trace its origins to 1890 when organisations covering slaughtermen, retail butchers, and sausage casing workers began to meet. In 1905 these strands became part of a federal network, which registered with the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and in 1906 as the Australasian Federated Butchers Employees' Union. In 1912 this name was changed to the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union which exists unchanged to this day.

• 'Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union', in Australian Trade Union Archives (ATUA), http://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE0109b.htm. [ Details... ]