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For other people named Organized Labour, see Organized Labour (disambiguation). The Honourable William Spence File:William Spence.jpg Member of the Australian Parliament for Darling In office 29 March 1901 – 5 May 1917 Preceded by New seat Succeeded by Arthur Blakeley Member of the Australian Parliament for Darwin In office 30 June 1917 – 13 December 1919 Preceded by Charles Howroyd Succeeded by George Bell Personal details Born (1846-08-07)7 August 1846 Eday, Scotland Died Terang, Victoria Nationality Scottish Australian Political party Labor (1901–17) Nationalist (1917–19) Spouse(s) Ann Jane Savage Occupation Unionist William Guthrie Spence (7 August 1846 – 13 December 1926), Australian trade union leader and politician, played a leading role in the formation of both Australia's largest union, the Australian Workers' Union, and the Australian Labor Party. Early life Spence was born on the island of Eday in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, the son of a stonemason, and migrated to Australia with his family as a six-year-old child. He had no formal education and worked as a farm labourer in the Wimmera district of Victoria from the age of 13. Later he acquired a gold-mining license and worked for various mining companies. In 1871 he married Ann Jane Savage. In 1874 Spence was one of a number of militant mine-workers who formed the Amalgamated Miners' Association of Victoria, and he became the union's general secretary in 1882. He led the union into mergers with similar unions in the other Australian colonies, forming the Amalgamated Miners' Association of Australasia. In 1886 he became the first president of the Amalgamated Shearers' Union and by 1890 most shearers in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales had joined the union and 85 per cent of the shearing sheds were open to union members only. Since the Australian economy was expanding rapidly at this time and there was an acute shortage of labour, the unions were in a strong bargaining position and were able to secure great improvements in the living standards of Australia's rural working class. But the Depression which began in 1891 led to acute class conflict as the mine owners and graziers tried to cut wages to remain solvent in the face of falling commodity prices, and the unions resisted. In 1894 Spence led the amalgamation of the miners, shearers and other rural workers into the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), Australia's largest and most powerful union. There were bitter strikes in the maritime and pastoral industries, in which Spence played a leading role, although he was generally a force for moderation in the labour movement. He was the AWU's secretary from 1894 to 1898 and president from 1898 to 1917. Political career Group photograph of all Federal Labour Party MPs elected at the inaugural 1901 election, including Chris Watson, Andrew Fisher, Billy Hughes, Frank Tudor, and King O'Malley. Spence is seated in a chair at far left. The defeat of the strikes of 1891–1894 led Spence and other labour leaders to move into politics. Spence supported the formation of the Progressive Political League, an early labour party, in Victoria in 1891 and he was narrowly beaten at a by-election in 1892 for the seat of Dundas in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. In 1891, he supported the first election campaign by the Labour Party in New South Wales, which won a number of seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. In 1898 Spence he became MP for Cobar in western New South Wales. He remained president of the AWU, making him one of the most powerful men in New South Wales politics. He described himself as "an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, socialist." Unlike many in the labour movement, Spence supported the federation of the Australian colonies, and in 1901 he was elected to the first Australian House of Representatives as MP for the NSW Division of Darling. Like most of the older generation of labour leaders who were born in the United Kingdom, Spence was associated with the more conservative wing of the Australian Labor Party, led by Billy Hughes. He was not really suited to parliamentary life and did not hold office until he was appointed Postmaster-General in the third Fisher Ministry from September 1914 to October 1915. He was also appointed to the undemanding position of Vice-President of the Executive Council in the second Hughes Ministry from November 1916 to February 1917. In 1916 Hughes decided to introduce conscription to maintain Australia's contribution to the Allied forces in World War I. Most of the Labor Party bitterly opposed this, but Spence sided with Hughes. As a result, he was expelled from the party along with Hughes and the other conscriptionist MPs. He was also deposed as president of the AWU and shortly after was expelled from the union. At the 1917 federal election, although Hughes was easily returned to power, Spence lost his seat, mainly because the AWU organised the rural workers to oppose him. Shortly after he was returned to Parliament at a by-election for the Tasmanian seat of Darwin. He was one of only a small number of people who have represented more than one state or territory in the Parliament. In 1919, he ran for the Melbourne seat of Batman, but was defeated. Spence took up farming and died of pulmonary oedema at Terang, Victoria, survived by his wife, four daughters and three of his five sons. His daughter Gwynetha had married publisher and politician Hector Lamond in 1902. Assessment Spence was typical of the founding generation of the Australian labour movement, in that he was born in Britain rather than Australia, was self-educated, was active in the temperance movement and was an active Protestant Christian – he was a Primitive Methodist lay preacher. Like most of his generation, he was loyal to the British Empire and thus supported conscription, while the younger, Australian-born and more secular (or Irish-Catholic) wing of the labour movement opposed it. Unlike Hughes, he soon regretted his break with the Labor Party and never recovered from his rejection by the union he helped found. Honours In 1972 the Canberra suburb of Spence was named after William Guthrie Spence. In October 2003 the Australian Workers' Union named its Melbourne headquarters in Spence's honour. References External links Australian Workers' Union memorial to Spence Political offices Preceded by Agar Wynne Postmaster-General 1914–1915 Succeeded by William Webster Preceded by Albert Gardiner Vice-President of the Executive Council 1916–1917 Succeeded by Edward Millen Parliament of New South Wales Preceded by Thomas Waddell Member for Cobar 1898–1901 Succeeded by Donald Macdonell Parliament of Australia New division Member for Darling 1901–1917 Succeeded by Arthur Blakeley Preceded by Charles Howroyd Member for Darwin 1917–1919 Succeeded by George Bell Trade union offices New title General Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union 1894 – 1900 Succeeded by Donald Macdonell
Template:/box-header Significant dates in labour history. December 01 - W. A. Boyle was born; the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was dissolved December 02 - The Professional Footballers' Association was founded December 03 - Tom Mooney died December 04 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations were dissolved; George L. Berry died; the 2007 South Africa miners' strike occurred December 05 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO December 06 - Santa Marta massacre occurred in Colombia in 1928; the Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978 began in the U.S.; the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was founded December 07 - The International Union of Operating Engineers was founded; the Fiji Teachers Union was founded; Vere Bird was born December 08 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions disbanded to from the American Federation of Labor; Anil Moonesinghe died; Bernice Fisher was born December 09 - Thomas Hepburn died; the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers was dissolved; Bob Hawke was born; Selig Perlman was born; Pablo Iglesias died December 10 - Jean Maitron is born; the American Federation of Teachers won its first collective bargaining election December 11 - The Union of Democratic Mineworkers was founded December 12 - Ron Carey died; Michael Ratchford died; Anthony Provenzano died; Charles Ballam died; Tommy Lewis was born December 13 - Samuel Gompers died; Bernard Kleiman died; William Spence died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Wheeler December 15 - George Hardy was born; George W. Taylor died; Chico Mendes was born; Mark Hewitson was born; Clinton Jencks died December 16 - The Rothbury Riot occurred in 1929 in Australia December 17 - Clarence Gillis died; Mustafa Al-Hallaj died December 18 - The Transport and General Workers' Union and Amicus voted to merge into a new union, Unite, in 2006; the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers was formed; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd.; Douglas Fraser was born; Randi Weingarten was born December 19 - Frank Keys Foster was born; the Ford Strike of 1945 in Canada ended; B. T. Ranadive was born December 20 - The 2005 New York City transit strike began; two of the Sydney Twelve were executed in Australia in 1916; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General); the Occupational Safety and Health Act became law in the U.S. in 1970; Richard Cordtz was born December 21 - William Usery, Jr. was born December 22 - Chico Mendes died; the 2005 New York City transit strike ended December 23 - 1929 Timber Workers strike began in Australia; Gunnar Sträng was born; Derek Simpson was born; Ella Vogelaar was born December 24 - Ed Boyce died; the Electrical Trades Union of Australia was formed; Italian Hall Disaster in 1913 December 25 - Ed Hochuli was born; Bartholomew Ulufa'alu was born; Philip Vera Cruz was born December 26 - A series of general strikes began in 1996 in South Korea; Dave Beck died December 27 - Cyrus S. Ching died; Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded; William Konyha died; John La Rose was born; Makhan Singh was born December 28 - Agnes Nestor died December 29 - Flint Sit-Down Strike began in 1936; the Indian Labour Organization was founded; Ted Theodore was born December 30 - Bill Tytla died December 31 - The International Typographical Union was dissolved; Joseph Yablonski was murdered on the orders of United Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle; John Garden died Jan•Feb•Mar•Apr•May•Jun•Jul•Aug•Sep•Oct•Nov•Dec Template:/box-footer	"I am directly opposed to it myself, but if it is a question of strike or you go into slavery, then I say strike until the last one of us drop into our graves." -- Mary Harris Jones. Labor News from Wikinews Template:/Did You Know?/77 Template:/Did You Know?/64 Template:/Did You Know?/152 Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934. The Organized Labour WikiProject is a group of editors who create and maintain labour-related articles. Here are some open tasks anybody can complete. Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : 1926 Passaic textile strike - Needs a couple good action photos of strike violence but 1926 photos are probably not in the public domain... Expand : Permanent & Casual Wharf Labourers Union of Australia, Maharashtra General Kamgar Union, Force Ouvrière, Jerome Wurf, Samuel Gompers, Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968) Update : National Labor Relations Board Two board members, needs attention! Strike action (also fix formatting), NHL Players Association, Teamsters for a Democratic Union
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