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Industrial conflict in paradise: Making the Bougainville copper project construction agreement 1970
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2023
Abstract
In 1969, construction began on Conzinc Riotinto Australia’s huge copper and gold mine at Panguna on the island of Bougainville in what was then the Australian-administered Territory of Papua New Guinea. The mining project was unlike any Australians had previously undertaken, and its construction created complexities which Australian managers and industrial relations systems had not previously encountered. The complexity of employment relations on this project was increased by the political environment of colonial rule and the responses of Australian workers and unions. This article looks at the development of the first industrial agreement during the mine’s construction phase and places it in the context of the creation of a sustainable bargaining structure, which succeeded in mitigating industrial conflict for two decades before the outbreak of a wider armed conflict.
- Type
- Non-Symposium Articles
- Information
- The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2: Symposium - Some Impacts of Neoliberalism , June 2014 , pp. 271 - 289
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s) 2014
References
References
Documents referred to in this article are held in the following: the ACTU archives and the Gunther papers in the Noel Butlin Archives Centre (NBAC), Australian National University; the QTLC Collection, Fryer Library University of Queensland (UQFL); and the Department of External Territories files in the National Archives of Australia (NAA), Canberra. All sets of files are chronological, and this has been used to help date, at least approximately, notes which include no date of writing. References to documents held in archival collections are by author or organisation where no author is identifiable.
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Durack, E, Carlyon, L
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Egerton, J
(1969a) Circular to QTLC affiliates. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 19 August.Google Scholar
Egerton (1969c) Circular to provincial councils. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 18 September.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
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Egerton, J
(1970e) Report: Bougainville dispute. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 18 February.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1970h) Supplementary report to Hawke. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 19 February.Google Scholar
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Morrison-Knudsen International (MKI) (n.d.a) Letter of employment. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331.Google Scholar
Morrison-Knudsen International (MKI) (n.d.b) Contract conditions of employment. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331, 1 August.Google Scholar
Queensland Trades and Labor Council (QTLC) (1969) Resolution for affiliates. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331, 17 September.Google Scholar
Robinson, P
(1969) Birth of a mining giant, Melbourne: Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd. ACTU archives: NBAC N68/1124.Google Scholar
Amarshi, A, Good, K, Mortimer, R
(1979) Development and Dependency: The Political Economy of Papua New Guinea. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baker, D
(2001) Barricades and Batons: a historical perspective of the policing of major industrial disorder in Australia. In:
Endres, M, Dupont, B
(eds) Policing the Lucky Country. Annandale, NSW, Australia: Hawkins Press, pp. 199–218.Google Scholar
Banks, G
(1993) Mining multinationals and developing countries: theory and practice in Papua New Guinea. Applied Geography 13(4): 313–327.Google Scholar
Bosson, R, Varnon, B
(1977) The Mining Industry in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank.Google Scholar
Church, R, Outram, Q, Smith, DN
(1990) British coal mining strikes 1893–1940: dimensions, distribution and persistence. British Journal of Industrial Relations 28(3): 329–349.Google Scholar
Cobbe, JH
(1979) Governments and Mining Companies in Developing Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Collins, J
(1988) Migrant Hands in a Distant Land: Australia’s Post-War Immigration. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Conell, C, Cohn, S
(1995) Learning from other people’s actions: environmental variation and diffusion in French coal mining strikes, 1890–1935. American Journal of Sociology 101(2): 366–403.Google Scholar
Cook, PH
(1969) Report of the tripartite labour mission to the territory of Papua and New Guinea April, 1968. Department of Labour and National Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 15 May.Google Scholar
Curthoys, A
(1994) Labour history and cultural studies. Labour History 67: 12–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabscheck, B, Niland, J
(1981) Industrial Relations in Australia. Sydney, NSW, Australia: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Department of Labour and National Service (DNLS) (1960) Report of the Tripartite Mission on Labour Matters to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, September-October, 1960. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Department of Labour and National Service.Google Scholar
Griffin, J, Nelson, H, Firth, S
(1979) Papua New Guinea: A Political History. Richmond, VA: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hess, M
(1988a) Papua New Guinea’s first peak union council: creating unions to fill a bureaucratic need? Australian Journal of Politics and History 34(1): 28–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, M
(1988b) Doing something for the workers?’ the establishment of Port Moresby’s central district waterside workers union. Labour History 54: 83–98.Google Scholar
Hess, M
(1992) Unions Under Economic Development: Private Sector Unions in Papua New Guinea. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Howard, W
(1977) Australian trade unions in the context of union theory. Journal of Industrial Relations 19(3): 255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imbun, BY
(1999) The Dynamics of Industrial Relations in the Papua New Guinea Mining Industry: Implications for Trade Union Strategies. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: National Research Institute.Google Scholar
Isaac, JE
(1970) The Structure of Unskilled Wages in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Kumar, R, Walrond, G
(1985) Options for Mining Development in Developing Countries. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lichtenstein, L
(2003) State of the Union: A Century of American Labor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
May, R, Spriggs, M
(eds) (1990) The Bougainville Crisis. Bathurst, NSW, Australia: Crawford House Press.Google Scholar
Mikesell, RF
(1975) Foreign Investment in Copper Mining: Case Studies of Mines in Peru and Papua New Guinea. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Oliver, DL
(1973) Bougainville: A Personal History. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Radetzki, M, Zorn, S
(1979) Financing Mining Projects in Developing Countries: A United Nations Study. London: Mining Journal Books.Google Scholar
Regan, AJ
(1998) Causes and course of the Bougainville conflict. Journal of Pacific History 33(3): 269–285.Google Scholar
Scalmer, S
(1996) Experience and discourse: a map of recent theoretical approaches to labour and social history. Labour History 70: 156–168.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M, Denoon, D
(eds) (1992) The Bougainville Crisis: 1991 Update. Canberra, ACT, Australia: ANU/Crawford House Press.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1969a) Minutes, meeting of Federal Unions with members at Bougainville. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020, 16 December.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1969b) Draft log of claims, construction project of BCP. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970a) ACTU circular 31/1970. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020, 25 February.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970b) Photo of striking workers in Arawa. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020, 10 February.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970c) Log of claims attached to minutes of meeting of Unions with members employed on the construction project of Bougainville Copper Pty Ltd. ACTU archives : NBAC, N21/1020, 5 March.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970d) Bougainville copper project, summary of final proposal for an industrial agreement between Bougainville Copper Pty Ltd and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. ACTU archives: NBAC N68/1124, 13 April.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970e) Minutes of the meeting of Unions with members employed on the Bougainville construction project. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1021, 3 September.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1970f) Notes on the conference between the Unions Negotiating Committee and representatives of Bougainville Copper Pty Ltd. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020, 16 March.Google Scholar
Bougainville Copper Project Ltd (BCPL) (1970) Expatriate construction workers’ agreement 1970. ACTU archives: NBAC, N21/1020.Google Scholar
Bryant, G
(1969) Statement on the Bougainville copper project. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969a) Confidential telex no.5927, 19 June, DET archives, NAA: A452, 1969/5222, Pt.2.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969b) Letter, Bunting to Barnes. DET archives: NAA: A452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 17 September.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969c) Minute. DET archives: NAA: A452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 29 September.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969d) Minute. DET archives: NAA: A452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 20 October.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969e) Revised draft cabinet submission. DET archives: NAA: a452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 3 November.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969f) Letter, Barnes to Mawby. DET archives: NAA: A452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 17 December.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969g) Mawby to Barnes. DET archives: NAA: A452 1969/5222, Pt.2, 23 December.Google Scholar
Department of External Territories (DET) (1969h) Memorandum on employment in Papua and New Guinea, Brisbane. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/3 31, May.Google Scholar
Durack, E, Carlyon, L
(1969) The Bougainville copper project: three articles, Melbourne: Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd. ACTU archives: NBAC N68/1124.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1969a) Circular to QTLC affiliates. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 19 August.Google Scholar
Egerton (1969c) Circular to provincial councils. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 18 September.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1970a) Confidential report to Hawke, employment conditions on the Bougainville copper project. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 18 February.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1970e) Report: Bougainville dispute. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 18 February.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1970h) Supplementary report to Hawke. ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 19 February.Google Scholar
Egerton, J
(1970i) Letter to Hawke (on indigenous trade union organisation in PNG). ACTU archives: NBAC N21/1020, 19 February.Google Scholar
Hornibrook (n.d.a) Terms and conditions of employment [version 1]. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331.Google Scholar
Hornibrook (n.d.b) Terms and conditions of employment [version 2]. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331.Google Scholar
Morrison-Knudsen International (MKI) (n.d.a) Letter of employment. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331.Google Scholar
Morrison-Knudsen International (MKI) (n.d.b) Contract conditions of employment. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331, 1 August.Google Scholar
Queensland Trades and Labor Council (QTLC) (1969) Resolution for affiliates. QTLC archives: UQFL 118/331, 17 September.Google Scholar
Robinson, P
(1969) Birth of a mining giant, Melbourne: Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd. ACTU archives: NBAC N68/1124.Google Scholar
Amarshi, A, Good, K, Mortimer, R
(1979) Development and Dependency: The Political Economy of Papua New Guinea. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baker, D
(2001) Barricades and Batons: a historical perspective of the policing of major industrial disorder in Australia. In:
Endres, M, Dupont, B
(eds) Policing the Lucky Country. Annandale, NSW, Australia: Hawkins Press, pp. 199–218.Google Scholar
Banks, G
(1993) Mining multinationals and developing countries: theory and practice in Papua New Guinea. Applied Geography 13(4): 313–327.Google Scholar
Bosson, R, Varnon, B
(1977) The Mining Industry in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank.Google Scholar
Church, R, Outram, Q, Smith, DN
(1990) British coal mining strikes 1893–1940: dimensions, distribution and persistence. British Journal of Industrial Relations 28(3): 329–349.Google Scholar
Cobbe, JH
(1979) Governments and Mining Companies in Developing Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Collins, J
(1988) Migrant Hands in a Distant Land: Australia’s Post-War Immigration. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Conell, C, Cohn, S
(1995) Learning from other people’s actions: environmental variation and diffusion in French coal mining strikes, 1890–1935. American Journal of Sociology 101(2): 366–403.Google Scholar
Cook, PH
(1969) Report of the tripartite labour mission to the territory of Papua and New Guinea April, 1968. Department of Labour and National Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 15 May.Google Scholar
Curthoys, A
(1994) Labour history and cultural studies. Labour History 67: 12–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabscheck, B, Niland, J
(1981) Industrial Relations in Australia. Sydney, NSW, Australia: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Department of Labour and National Service (DNLS) (1960) Report of the Tripartite Mission on Labour Matters to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, September-October, 1960. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Department of Labour and National Service.Google Scholar
Griffin, J, Nelson, H, Firth, S
(1979) Papua New Guinea: A Political History. Richmond, VA: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hess, M
(1988a) Papua New Guinea’s first peak union council: creating unions to fill a bureaucratic need? Australian Journal of Politics and History 34(1): 28–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, M
(1988b) Doing something for the workers?’ the establishment of Port Moresby’s central district waterside workers union. Labour History 54: 83–98.Google Scholar
Hess, M
(1992) Unions Under Economic Development: Private Sector Unions in Papua New Guinea. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Howard, W
(1977) Australian trade unions in the context of union theory. Journal of Industrial Relations 19(3): 255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imbun, BY
(1999) The Dynamics of Industrial Relations in the Papua New Guinea Mining Industry: Implications for Trade Union Strategies. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: National Research Institute.Google Scholar
Isaac, JE
(1970) The Structure of Unskilled Wages in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Kumar, R, Walrond, G
(1985) Options for Mining Development in Developing Countries. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lichtenstein, L
(2003) State of the Union: A Century of American Labor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
May, R, Spriggs, M
(eds) (1990) The Bougainville Crisis. Bathurst, NSW, Australia: Crawford House Press.Google Scholar
Mikesell, RF
(1975) Foreign Investment in Copper Mining: Case Studies of Mines in Peru and Papua New Guinea. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Oliver, DL
(1973) Bougainville: A Personal History. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Radetzki, M, Zorn, S
(1979) Financing Mining Projects in Developing Countries: A United Nations Study. London: Mining Journal Books.Google Scholar
Regan, AJ
(1998) Causes and course of the Bougainville conflict. Journal of Pacific History 33(3): 269–285.Google Scholar
Scalmer, S
(1996) Experience and discourse: a map of recent theoretical approaches to labour and social history. Labour History 70: 156–168.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M, Denoon, D
(eds) (1992) The Bougainville Crisis: 1991 Update. Canberra, ACT, Australia: ANU/Crawford House Press.Google Scholar