The Strike Spreads
The miners, freezing workers and the federated seaman had no wage dispute and they ignore the advice of their Union National Officers to remain at work. While, the government's draconian emergency regulations provoked further protest. There was a nationwide support for the waterside workers. At the heyday of the dispute, around 22,000 workers were involved in the industrial actions. Miners and freezing workers went on strike and seaman refused to co-operate with the military who had occupied with the wharves; and there were reports that allegedly the some in the armed forces refused to take part in the "repression and scabbing." (Coutt and Fitness, Protest in New Zealand) Likewise, the rail workers and drivers refused to move goods handled by the "scabs", and the hydro dam workers at Mangakino, coal miners on the West Coast, in the King Country and the Waikato supported the industrial actions of the waterside workers by refusing to work at the workplaces. The workers even got support from a section of famers, who "used to send in truckloads of produce - all in open defiance of the regulations." (Coutt and Fitness, Protest in New Zealand) Although such actions were illegal under the Draconian regulations to support the workers involved in disputes in anyway, members of the other unions continued to support the striking unions.
Key Idea
- The nationwide support for the striking waterside workers from other unions, at the risk of breaking the Draconian emergency regulations and facing punishments, reflected a manner in which the working class population of New Zealand were dissatisfied with the declining working conditions in New Zealand since the Second World War. When the militant, socialist unionists under the Trades Union Congress decided to spearhead industrial actions, other unions gave economical supports and provided food in an attempt to help the Trades Union Congress bring about a radical changes to the workplaces. Similarly, in the 1912 Waihi Gold Mine Strike, other unions around the country supported the Waihi Trade Union of Workers through the collection of funds and foods in an effort to "ease" the economic hardships, and the unionist were interested in improving the long-term grievance surrounding the appalling working conditions and living standards.
- Despite the harsh, brutal state actions aimed at crushing the waterside worker's determination, the waterside workers were able to create and maintain pressure and anxiety on the state through the printing of illegal posters and leaflets with aims of turning away public support from the Government. The militant unions also encouraged the idea of united labour movements nationwide and maintaining the labour movement "momentum" to achieve a radical changes to the society and in the organisation of Government.