The Wide Comb Dispute: Australian Sheep Shearing: 1983
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- This video containing material of historical interest has been uploaded for purposes of scholarship and research. It was broadcast in Australia by Channel Nine's "60 Minutes" on 19 April 1983 during a national strike in the shearing industry, making clear the intensity of feelings on both sides. Wide combs (3 1/2 inches) had been legalised on 10th December 1982. The Australian Workers' Union strongly objected. The AWU's appeal against the ruling had been unceremoniously rejected by the Australian Industry Commission on 23rd March 1983. Hitherto, since way back in 1926 only narrow combs (2 1/2 inches) had been permitted by the Pastoral Industry Award. In fact there had been a union rule against wide combs since 1910! Shearers were sharply divided between those who wanted wide combs, and those who wanted the ban continued. The video has great shots of unionists and wide comb "scabs" fighting at the door of a union meeting at the Wagga Wagga Leagues Club in NSW. Also an account of a violent assault on wide comb shearer Bob White and his wife outside the Eromanga pub in Queensland. For a book on the history of shearing see "Mateship and Moneymaking, Australian Shearing: The Clash of Union Solidarity with the Spirit of Enterprise, 1895-1995" by Rory O'Malley, Xlibris, 2013. The website shearinghistory.com also contains relevant historical information.
So proud of my Grandfather Robert White. It just goes to show how one sided people used to be. I would never wish this hate on any family.
Angel White. ahh think your grandfather @@@- Robert White is such fun guy ahh would actually pay him for me to work for him.'''
@Angel White your grandfather was a man of character and rock solid values,he and his men singlehandedly dragged these Neanderthals kicking and screaming into the 1980s.
The union members were cowardly scum!
Fare play to him such a load of 💩 shows how something so small can cause such rows but u are proud of your grandfather 👍👍👍
Dad was a shearer all his life. Started with synott and dunbar in the early 60s as a presser. Rip dad.
that guy complaining about a sore elbow over wide combs. LOL. I shear with them without issue
How we only use wide coombs now though
I worked for bob between 1982 and 1985 was a tough time got bashed at burke my partner got bashed as well and she was pregnant I wonder if the shearers would go back to narrow combs now
Stephen smith. @ Bob White should have been the lead actor in the 'Sunday too far.'' movie.. @ Iff yocan get rid off th mongrels the wool industry is fun.
sounds like a great man too be with. if he still around
For every 2 men using a wide comb 1 man loses his job and I'll give you 10 cents a pound raw wool out the door. Just kidding. Im wearing a 10% wool 90% acrylic yarn "wool blend"
Edit: Ive thought about it and realized anything you say can have real world ramifications of drunk Australians knocking each other about. Please understand my original post is meant to be a philosophical observation on the conditions of economics. In no way should it be interpreted as a call to violence.
25% of shearers were losing their jobs .>>> only way they could have solved this dispute is to have quotas of 150 sheep per day some of the gun shearers could take 400 sheep in a day.>>>
I would be proud of him too.
Shows how dumb Unions were even in my industry in Australia. Very violent as always when Unions do not get their way. By the way we all use the wide comb now so the Union was dead wrong I was a 19 year old boy when this made history
When this first aired back in 1983 I was shocked to see my mate Paul being attacked by these arseholes .I was shearing with a union team and had always been in the AWU yet we ended up constantly fighting losers in places like Dubbo most of whom were not even shearers ,all bar myself were Aussies too .
The whole thing was poorly presented by the AWU as hardly anyone knew what the big deal was [ the rate of pay was based on the number of sheep shorn in a given time with a narrow comb]
In Adelaide I had no probs attending union meetings even though I was a Kiwi
While the union has fought for decent working conditions and wages, nothing justifies violence especially like this
I agree with that but these coward scabs can make your blood boil.
Can't believe the cop laughed about it!
@@paulcoffey359 He wasn't put out back because he was a bright spark.
Union cranks. They never got any better.
Go easy kicking unions mate if it were not for them we would all be eating rice or baked beans on toast for dinner.
Yes. The original idea of the union movement was great. As usual greed and corruption ruinrd the Unions and the Labour Party.These are the same clowns that signed on to a shed and voted the sheep wet, then billed the cocky for a week of the roustabouts and presser sitting around doing nothing. The same clowns that wouldn't let us start at 5am on a Friday to leave early. @@outdatedfarmequipment2702
@@outdatedfarmequipment2702 ...which is coming if the union supported labor party achieves it's goal of implementing WEF policies in Australia.
I remember this dispute. It was a massive uproar all round
Here from the Adam Friedland show
Lol ozzies narrow minded😂
when times where simpler?
I'm using 98mm wide combs the sheep are now huge.
No one gets it, it wasnt about shearing, it was about keeping the kiwis iout of Australia.Wide combs are heaps better to shear with and you make more money but the shearing industry is a frigging mess now. Anyone who learnt on wide combs finds it very difficult to shear with narrow gear, thats what kept the new zealanders out of the australian industry. Since wide gear came in the industry has gone to shit. Poor facilities, terrible toilets, unliveale huts and no union. I shear with wide combs but this strike ruined the industry. WE should have just adopted the wide gear like they did in Queensland and found other ways to keep the kiwi scabls out.
Why do you call the Kiwis "Scabs"? They are not to blame for your current working conditions plus there were not enough Australian shearers at that time do do the work load. I was hitch-hiking at that time around the Coastal Highway and several times was told to say nothing in a local pub as there has been brutal fights between the Kiwis and Australians over the wide comb in that town. Most people that gave me a lift told me that many station owners preferred the Kiwi shearers over the Australian as they worked harder, did not work to the clock and so did not leave sheep in the yards over the weekend when an extra hour or two would have finished the work. The biggest irony is that the wide comb the Kiwis used was made in Australia.
@Andrew Murphy One of the few commenters with a brain. Thanks.
Note" no one remembers the AWU bloke with the fancy suit and nice car. ....
@@trackdusty What a bunch of nonsense. Kiwi's go over and show you fullas a better way of shearing and you complain. Useless bastards
How tha fuck are Kiwi's to blame for shit huts and toilets on Aussie farms?
Not sure what part of Australia it was but the farmer asked my uncle to work Saturdays & he agreed to which the local Shearer's took exception to because they thought they would have to work Saturdays as well. They ganged up & threatened to beat my uncle up if he worked on the Saturday. Funny thing is the farmer only asked my uncle because he knew the local lads didn't want to work Saturdays. Maybe they were jealous I don't know either way threatening to beat someone up because they get asked to do over time is out of order.
Shearing on the weekends was near as big a deal as wide combs mate. Union rules. Still don't shear on weekends here in Tassie. Reason why? at least 75-80% of shearers are AWU members
@DTL I was only a union member because of my uncle who's a staunch union man paid for mine my whole career. I was only a kid when this debacle was happening but the old fellas made sure you knew all about it.
That's crazy fighting over a few inches like those unions clearly must of been delusional thinking the narrow comb was the best option
A lot of people were losing their jobs because of the increased efficiency and competition
Tough militant unions are what built the working class in this country not gutless arse kissing scabs.
@@13thbiosphere no they weren't. That was just another excuse for these useless pricks to get some time off work and go behave like animals.
@@13thbiosphere name one shearer that lost their job just because of their shearing combs.
@@lumpofdirt69 if you can do a job 30% more efficient it's inevitable that someone is going to lose a job it's just basic mathematics
Just let the man use his bloody Coombs
Passion in the Bush. most interesting. Thanks.
Union power all the way.
How many packs of cigarettes is 36AUD a day back then, now?
Whats your point?
@shaun469 in terms of economics, with cigarettes+beer+sugar+butter(etc), my "point" is regarding standards of normal "rations" (standard commodities rations, witch is millenia-long-accepted standard) [globally accepted] ratios to standard staples [universally accepted].
@@meljane8339 cigarettes and alcohol are taxed outside of normal inflation. Probably not a good baseline.
@shaun469 it's a historic baseline, though. ...
@@meljane8339 historic yes. Relevant today? No
The game has changed since the strike for the better if you ask me
What a disgrace by these thugs. Good on ya Bob, your a legend!!
This is crazy but each side beleived in it
A good Kontroll freak iss a dead one.''- sic.
The difference ? easier work and less shearers required over the long haul that means less members( well less $$$) going to the union..bunch of grubs.
I know nothing about sheep or combs but I hate thugs and bullies
An extra inch matters
Click goes the shears 😜🤣..Now what using wide combs lol..
Good old fashioned union protectionism. 🙄 Don't wide combs dominate now? 🤔 Luddites. 🙄
Good to see unions haven’t changed.. the real scabs!!
Shudder to imagine how these blokes would have treated the aboriginal community.
BS. The AWU did a lot for working aborigines. I knew a couple who organised aboriginal labor in the cotton industry.
@@trackdusty such as?
@@flanno That's private, idiot.
@@flanno Who do you think mustered the flocks? as an example.
I never met an aboriginal shearer but I knew a lot employed on the huge cotton farms such as Cubby Station and they were taking home big money.
Was silly if they turned the wide comb over ...it was made in Australia
Simple folk, wanted to work harder for less money
wow haha what a silly situation
I remember my uncles talking about this when they came back to New Zealand. Was there a racial overtone to this? My uncles were all big Maoris and they would laugh about fights they would get in.
History aliken to or through books.(follow the herd.baa baa.hood)woofe wuf communicates e.g.of job or duty to respect for respect(police dog or just companionship)yet the voice is gauged buy the sayings actions &that of tru beat(ticka)