Ted Roach

Last updated

Ted Roach
Ted Roach (trade unionist) 1965.jpg
August, 1965
Born
Edward Charles Roach

(1909-09-24)September 24, 1909
DiedFebruary 25, 1997(1997-02-25) (aged 87)
NationalityAustralian
Known forTrade unionist

Edward Charles Roach (1909–1997), was an Australian trade unionist, long-time leader of the Waterside Workers' Federation (WWF) and prominent member of the Communist Party of Australia. He was a key organiser of the 1938 Dalfram dispute, when dock workers, concerned with the occupation of China, refused to load ships destined for Japan with Australian pig-iron, a raw material for munitions. He was twice imprisoned for his industrial activity. As a leader in the WWF during the introduction of containerisation, he was responsible for winning significant improvements in working conditions for those in the Australian stevedoring industry.

Contents

Early life

Roach was born in poverty in Coledale, on the South Coast of New South Wales in 1909, the third of eight children, to a coal-mining father and housewife mother. The political background of the area is covered by Joseph Davis in "Wobbly Wollongong: anti-capitalist attitudes and activism in the Northern Ilawarra Mining Townships of Scarborough and Coledale 1914-1919". [1] Two of his siblings died as babies. [2] He left school at 13 to mine coal in Newcastle. [2]

With the onset of the Great Depression, Roach traveled through northern New South Wales and Queensland seeking work. In 1931, in Mackay he became a member of the Communist Party and became local branch secretary of the Unemployed Workers' Movement. [3]

Waterside Workers' Federation

Returning to New South Wales in the mid-1930s, he joined the Newcastle Branch of the Waterside Workers' Federation (WWF) in 1934. In 1936, he moved to the South Coast Branch, which covered Port Kembla. He was elected Branch Secretary in March 1938 on a platform of agitating for significant improvements in working conditions at the Port. The branch was successful in securing the first union-controlled employment roster in an Australian port. [4]

The growing strength of the local branch was exemplified in the Dalfram dispute of November that same year. Citing the Japanese invasion of China, the union refused to load pig-iron ore aboard a ship, the Dalfram, that was destined for a munitions factory in Japan. The dispute drew the attention of the Attorney-General, Robert Menzies (future Prime Minister), who would earn the nick-name "Pig-Iron Bob" that would stand for the rest of his life for his attempts to force the union to cease the industrial action.

During World War Two, Roach was able to consolidate the gains made in Port Kembla and extend these to other ports. He helped bring back the Permanent and Casual Wharf Labourers' Union which had split from the union in 1917. In 1942 he was elected Assistant General Secretary-Organiser.

In 1949 during the miners' strike, he was held in contempt for using trade union resources to support the miners sent to gaol for six weeks. In 1951, as part of the WWF agitation over the Commonwealth Arbitration Court's considerations of adjustments to the minimum wage in Australia, Roach was found in contempt of court and spent nine and a half months in gaol. [5]

The only full biography of Ted Roach is the 2021 publication "Ted Roach – From Pig Iron Hero To Long Bay Gaol: A Wharfie’s Life" by Denis Kevans, ISBN   978-0-9803883-7-4. [6]

Later life

Roach died in on 25 February 1997, three weeks after his wife. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wollongong</span> City in New South Wales, Australia

Wollongong, informally referred to as "The Gong", is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is thought to be derived from the word woolyungah in the language of the Aboriginal inhabitants at the time of settlement, meaning five islands. Wollongong lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 85 kilometres south of central Sydney. Wollongong had an estimated urban population of 302,739 at June 2018, making it the third-largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle and the tenth-largest city in Australia by population. The city's current Lord Mayor is Gordon Bradbery AM who was elected in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Kembla, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex, a small harbour foreshore nature reserve, and a small commercial sector. It is situated on the tip of Red Point: its first European sighting was by Captain James Cook in 1770. The name "Kembla" is an Aboriginal word meaning "plenty [of] wild fowl".

The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial and political wings. Trade unions in Australia may be organised on the basis of craft unionism, general unionism, or industrial unionism. Almost all unions in Australia are affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), many of which have undergone a significant process of amalgamations, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The leadership and membership of unions hold and have at other times held a wide range of political views, including communist, socialist and right-wing views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Coast railway line, New South Wales</span> Railway line in New South Wales, Australia

The South Coast Railway is a commuter and goods railway line from Sydney to Wollongong and Bomaderry in New South Wales, Australia. Beginning at the Illawarra Junction, the line services the Illawarra and South Coast regions of New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritime Union of Australia</span> Maritime union organization in Australia

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) was a union which covered waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. The MUA was formed in 1993 with merger of the Seamen's Union of Australia and the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Coast Line</span> Rail service in New South Wales, Australia

The South Coast Line is an intercity rail service operated by NSW TrainLink that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from Central, and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line to Bomaderry. The service also runs along the Eastern Suburbs railway line at peak hours and the Port Kembla railway line to Port Kembla. It is operated with NSW TrainLink H sets and Sydney Trains T sets, with Endeavour railcars operating the service on the non-electrified line between Kiama and Bomaderry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coniston railway station, New South Wales</span> Railway station in New South Wales, Australia

Coniston is an intercity train station located in Coniston, New South Wales, Australia, on the South Coast railway line. The station serves NSW TrainLink trains travelling south to Port Kembla or Kiama and north to Wollongong and Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cringila railway station</span> Railway station in New South Wales, Australia

Cringila is an intercity train station located in Cringila, Australia, on the South Coast railway line's Port Kembla branch. The station serves NSW TrainLink trains travelling south to Port Kembla and north to Wollongong and Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Kembla railway station</span> Railway station in New South Wales, Australia

Port Kembla is a single-platform intercity train terminal located in Port Kembla, Australia, on the South Coast railway line's Port Kembla branch. The station serves NSW TrainLink trains travelling north to Wollongong and Sydney. The station also serves as a stabling location for South Coast line trains.

Wendy Richardson Australian playwright

Wendy Richardson, OAM is one of Australia's most popular playwrights, best known as the author of Windy Gully. Richardson lives in Mount Kembla near Wollongong, New South Wales. She is very active in the local community, working with disabled and disadvantaged youth, assisting those in need, teaching Sunday School and participating in historical and literary events.

Kembla Heights is a village west of Wollongong, New South Wales in the Parish of Kembla County of Camden. It is situated along Harry Graham Drive and upper Cordeaux Road and is part of a tourist route that runs along the Illawarra escarpment for a distance between Mount Kembla and Mount Keira. The Dendrobium Colliery is located in Kembla Heights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AFL South Coast</span>

The AFL South Coast is an Australian rules football competition in the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions of New South Wales. The AFLSC has three divisions of senior men's football and two divisions of senior women's football. In 2012 The South Coast AFL became "AFL South Coast" incorporating the three leagues of South Coast AFL Seniors, Shoalhaven Juniors and Illawarra Juniors.

The bull pen or bull system was a feature of Australian waterfront workers' life experience under the Dog-collar act where men were hired for the day on that day by lower management in a competitive face to face environment. This was strongly felt to be demeaning by workers. Roach states that the Port Kembla branch of the wharfies union dismantled the bull system in 1938. Given the unskilled nature of waterfront work, the hunger for jobs, and the dismantling of union power on the waterfront under the Dog-collar act, the bull pen forced workers to compete and to cultivate servile and sycophantic relationships with individual foremen. The bull system was eventually dismantled by a period of low unemployment and union power during the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Healy (trade unionist)</span> Australian trade unionist

James "Big Jim" Healy was an Australian trade unionist and communist activist. Healy served as General Secretary of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia from 1937 to his death in 1961, a period when the union recovered from its defeat in the 1928 waterfront strike to become one of the most powerful trade unions in Australia. Healy was one of the most prominent public representatives of the communist movement in Australia during the Cold War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Kembla harbour</span> Port in Australia

Port Kembla is a man-made cargo port or artificial harbour, with an outer harbour protected by breakwaters and an inner harbour constructed by dredging, located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia</span> Former maritime trade union in Australia

The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered in 1907; its first general president was Billy Hughes.

Rupert Ernest Lockwood was an Australian journalist and communist activist.

SS Dalfram (1930-1943) was a British Cargo Steamer of 4,558 tons built in 1930 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock for Campbell Brothers and Co, Newcastle upon Tyne. The ship was launched on 2 April 1930.

The Dalfram dispute of 1938 was a political industrial dispute at Port Kembla, New South Wales, protesting the export of pig iron from Australia to Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It became famous for providing the nickname of Pig Iron Bob to Attorney General Robert Menzies, later to serve as Prime Minister.

Australian Iron & Steel was an Australian iron and steel manufacturer.

References

  1. ↑ Davis, Joseph L. "WOBBLY WOLLONGONG: Anti-Capitalist Attitudes and Activism in the Northern Illawarra's Coastal Mining Townships of Scarborough and Coledale 1914-1919".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. 1 2 "Ted Roach interviewed by Stephen Rapley in the NSW Bicentennial oral history collection [sound recor... [nla.obj-216350072] | Digital Collection - National Library of Australia". nla.gov.au. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  3. ↑ Griffith, Garry (June 1997). "Obituary: Ted Roach (1909–1997)". Illawarra Unity - Journal of the Illawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. 1 (2): 30–34.
  4. ↑ Davis, Joseph (1 March 1996). "The magnificent Ted Roach". Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin: 11–13.
  5. ↑ Louis, L. J.; Louis, Les (2004). "The Cold/Class War, and the Jailing of Ted Roach". Labour History (86): 157–172. doi:10.2307/27515972. ISSN   0023-6942. JSTOR   27515972.
  6. ↑ "Ted Roach: from Pig Iron Hero to Long Bay Gaol". Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Ted Roach, 1909-1997". Green Left Weekly. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.