This record is an excerpt from a scrapbook belonging to trade unionist Arthur Blakeley. It shows pages with his union membership tickets pasted in.
A trade union is a group of workers who join forces to seek to maintain or improve their working conditions. The trade union movement has been one of the most powerful agents of change in Australian history. It is based on the idea that workers are stronger when they stick together to obtain better wages and conditions.
Arthur Blakeley was born in 1886. He left school at 13 to work in the mining and pastoral industries. He became an organiser with the Australian Workers' Union in 1912, and remained a member even after he was elected to federal parliament in 1917. Although his parliamentary career ended in 1934, industrial relations and the labour movement remained his passions.
The scrapbook that these pages are taken from contains nearly 25 pages of union membership tickets. This shows how important the union and what it stood for was to Arthur Blakeley.
Unions remain active in Australia today. They are highly organised and speak on behalf of their members to improve working conditions, including wages, leave entitlements, workplace safety and working hours.
