Australian trade union membership grew dramatically from 1900 to 1914. While there is recognition that compulsory arbitration played an important role, there are a range of factors that may explain the growth. There is also a focus in this debate on unions that grew rather than those that collapsed and a neglect of the workplace in the debate. Through an analysis of the Lithgow Ironworks this paper hopes to broaden the debate about union growth. It attempts to explain why iron and steel unionism arose, briefly collapsed and re-organised at the Ironworks and it focuses on the state, management and community or locality as explanatory factors.
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