The Australian Postal and Telecommunications Union (APTU) was an Australian trade union which represented a wide range of employees in the postal and telecommunication industries, including
postmen, postal and
mail officers, delivery drivers, storemen,
linesmen and
telegram messenger
In many English-speaking countries, a telegram messenger, more often known as a telegram delivery boy, telegraph boy or telegram boy was a young man employed to deliver telegrams, usually on bicycle. In the United Kingdom, they were employed by th ...
s.
It was founded in 1925 and merged into the
Communication Workers Union of Australia
The Communication Workers Union of Australia is a trade union in Australia. It is a division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia.
It was formed in 1992 as a standalone Union following the merger of the Australi ...
(CWU) in 1992.
History
![APWU float](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/APWU_float.jpg)
The union was formed on 1 July 1925 as the Amalgamated Postal Linemen's, Sorters' and Letter Carriers' Union of Australia, through the amalgamation of the previously-independent
Australian Postal Linesmen's Union,
Australian Letter Carriers Association and
Postal Sorters Union of Australia. The amalgamation process was opposed by the Victorian branch of the Letter Carriers' Association, as well as the
Federated Public Service Assistants Association of Australia and the
Australian Public Service Board. These groups launched an unsuccessful appeal against the amalgamation to the
Commonwealth Arbitration Court.
In 1926 the union's name was simplified to the Amalgamated Postal Workers Union of Australia.
[ The union's name was changed again in 1974 to the Australian Postal and Telecommunications Union.][ By 1987 the union's membership had grown to 48,800, of whom 53.1% were employed by Telecom.] In 1990 the APTEU absorbed the Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists, followed by the Australian Postmasters Association in 1991 and the Postal Supervisory Officers Association in 1992.[
]
References
{{reflist
Communications trade unions
1925 establishments in Australia
1992 disestablishments in Australia
Defunct trade unions of Australia
Trade unions established in 1925
Trade unions disestablished in 1992