The Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia was an Australian trade union covering workers in the construction industry.

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia

It was originally established as the Australian District of the

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASC&J) was a New Model Trade Union in the 1860s in the United Kingdom, representing carpenters and joiners. History The formation of the Society was spurred by the Stonemason's strike, 1859, ...

, initially forming part of the English trade union, with a carpenters' union having been active as early as the 1840s. It was first federally registered under that name in 1911. In 1922, it was renamed the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia, when it absorbed many members from the collapsing Australian Society of Progressive Carpenters and Joiners.

Expanded coverage

Discussions about merging the various building industry unions had begun by the 1930s, and in 1934, the New South Wales state carpenters' and bricklayers' unions merged as the Building Workers' Industrial Union, with approaches also being made to the plasterers', painters' and labourers' unions. In 1943, the issue of amalgamation on a broader scale emerged again. The federal Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners sought to expand its coverage to workers across the entire building industry, and changed its name to the Building Workers' Industrial Union, with a number of state-level unions merging into the union. In the same year, the New South Wales branch affiliated with the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

for the first time, breaking from the Carpenters' and Joiners' historical non-affiliation. The union suffered a setback in 1944 when the amalgamation of the Queensland state Carpenters' and Joiners' with Painters' and Decorators' Union and the Queensland branch of the

Builders Labourers Federation The Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1911 until 1972, and from 1976 until 1986, when it was permanently deregistered in various Australian states by the federal Hawke Labor government and som ...

to form a Queensland state branch of the BWIU was blocked in court after a challenge from the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

and other rival unions. A second attempt was made later that year to merely rename the state Carpenters' and Joiners' Union as the BWIU, as had occurred federally, but was also blocked in court; the state union also lost on appeal the next year. The New South Wales branch was headed by Communist leadership through much of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and faced an ongoing dispute over their coverage on the wharves with the newer and more conservative rival Ship Joiners' Society.

Deregistration

In August 1948, the union was deregistered by the Commonwealth Arbitration Court in retribution for the Victorian branch's decision to order strike action regarding a claim that had been rejected by the court. Several attempts at re-registration were refused by the Court over the next several years. A federal executive continued to operate despite the deregistration, and the various branches continued operating at state level. A conservative splinter group re-registered a union under the

name in 1952. The union was described by ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' in 1957 as "one of the most militant elements in the building trades' group of unions". In the late 1950s, the union supported exchanging preferences between the Labor Party and Communist Party, opposed nuclear weapons being based in Australia, and supported closer relations between Australia and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Re-registration and amalgamation

The BWIU eventually won federal re-registration in September 1962. The industrial registrar noted that the union had kept their much of their membership and their identity throughout the long period of deregistration. The re-registration resulted in a renewed competition for membership with the rival Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, which had benefited from their lengthy federal deregistration. In later years, the union clashed heavily with the

, with the unions once described as "foremost enemies". In 1991, the union merged with the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union, itself a recent amalgamation of the

Australian Timber Workers Union Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

and the

Pulp and Paper Workers Federation of Australia The Pulp and Paper Workers Federation of Australia (PPWF) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1913 and 1991. The PPWF represented workers in the pulp and paper industry. History The union was federally registered in 1913 as the ...

, to form the "ATAIU & BWIU Amalgamated Union". That union then merged into the Construction Forestry & Mining Employees Union in 1992, which in turn became the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union later that year. Notable people associated with the union included Alfred Bennett, Pat Clancy,

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...

, Roger Degen,

Jack Ferguson Laurie John Ferguson (4 September 1924 – 17 September 2002) was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch). He served in Neville Wran's state gover ...

, Edward Greaves, Kate Lundy, Fred Newton, David Parker and

Merv Toms John Mervin Toms (23 January 1909 – 8 October 1971) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1956 to 1971. He was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in July 1 ...

Tony Bleasdale Anthony John Bleasdale (1946 – 3 May 2024) was an Australian politician. He served as a Labor councillor on Blacktown City Council from 1996 and was Mayor of Blacktown at the time of his death in May 2024. He was deputy mayor between 2016 and 2 ...

References

{{reflist Defunct trade unions of Australia Building and construction trade unions