Everybody Was "girls" in the Minds of the Management': The Fight for Equal Pay in the Australian Insurance Industry, 1973-75

Labour History

Volumn , Issue 73, 1997, Pages 187-207

  Fieldes, Diane ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 85171330216     PISSN: 00236942     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3828/27516509     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Carl Cuneo, for example, points out the lack of cases in the equal pay literature that deal with the dynamics of such struggles-C. Cuneo, Pay Equity: The Labour-Feminist Challenge, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1990, p. 1
2. C. Cockburn, Brothers. Male Dominance and Technological Change, Pluto Press, London, 1991, p. 196
3. H. Hartmann, The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more progressive union', Capital and Class, 8, summer 1979, pp. 1-33
4. This view is described by Nolan as 'central to feminist historiography'. M. Nolan, 'Sex or class? The politics of the first equal pay campaign in Victoria' in R. Frances and B. Scates (eds) Women, Work and the Labour Movement in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, Labour History 61, p. 101
5. Veronica Beechey states that 'Undoubtedly the main strength of Hartmann's analysis is that men's domination over women is central to it'. V. Beechey, Unequal Work, Verso, London, 1987, p. 11. To other readers this might be seen as its main weakness. 6. See, for example, S. Eccles, 'Female employment: real and apparent gains', Australian Bulletin of Labour, vol. 6, no.3,1980, pp. 172-185
6. S. Eccles, The role of women in the Australian labour market: A survey of the literature' Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 24, no.3, September 1982, pp. 315-336
7. J. Nieuwenhuysen and J. Hicks, 'Equal pay for women in Australia and New Zealand' in
8. B.O. Pettman, Equal Pay for Women. Progress and Problems in Seven Countries, MCB Books, Bradford 1975
9. C. Short, 'Equal pay-what happened?', Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 28, no. 3, September 1986, pp. 315-335
10. M. Thornton, '(Un)equal pay for work of equal value', Journal of Industrial Relations, vol.23, no. 4, December 1981, p. 467
11. M. Dixson, The Real Matilda, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1976, p. 37
12. Thornton, p. 468
13. L. Bennett, 'Legal intervention and the female workforce: The Conciliation and Arbitration Court 1907-21', International Journal of the Sociology of Law, vol. 12, no. 1, February 1984, pp. 23-36
14. L. Bennett, 'Equal pay and comparable worth and the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission', Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 30, no. 4, December 1988, pp. 533-545
15. Bennett, 1988, p. 540
16. Thornton, 1981, p. 467
17. M. Power, 'Women and economic crises: The Great Depression and the present crisis', paper presented at the Women and Labour Conference, 1978
18. C. O'Donnell, The Basis of the Bargain. Gender, Schooling and Jobs, George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1984, pp. 129-131
19. E. Ryan and A. Conlon, Gentle Invaders, Thomas Nelson, Sydney, 1975
20. Ryan and Conlon, pp. 84-85
21. Ryan and Conlon, pp. 142,146
22. Ryan and Conlon, p. 140
23. L.N. Riches, 'The struggle for equal pay in the Australian private banking industry, 1966-1975' in M. Bevege, M. James and C. Shute (eds) Worth Her Salt. Women At Work in Australia, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982, pp. 343-357
24. Riches, p. 345
25. Ann Curthoys' work (For and Against Feminism, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1988), although not specifically focussing on equal pay, also deals with the problems of the gender-based analysis. 22. G. Whitehouse, 'Unequal pay: A comparative study of Australia, Canada, Sweden and the U.K.', Labour and Industry, vol. 3, no. 2 & 3, June/October 1990,362
26. M. Nolan, 'Sex or class? The politics of the earliest equal pay campaign in Victoria' in R. Frances and B. Scates (eds) Women, Work and the Labour Movement in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, special issue of Labour History, no. 61, November 1991, p. 121
27. Nolan, p. 102
28. Nolan, p. 103
29. G. Griffin, White Collar Militancy. The Australian Banking and Insurance Unions, Croom Helm, Sydney, 1985, p. 2
30. G.Gleghorn, Life in General. A Short History of Organised Insurance Workers in Australia, Australian Insurance Employees Union, Melbourne, n.d. [1991], p. 28
31. Gleghorn, pp. 4-5
32. Gleghorn, p. 5
33. Gleghorn, pp. 29-31
34. Premium. The Official Journal of the Australian Insurance Staffs' Federation, November 1962
35. The following are the major articles which were run in Premium in this period, culminating in a special equal pay edition, vol.23, no.3, March 1970: 'Equal pay: The nonsense they talk', vol. 19, no.6, December 1966
36. So why the delay on equal pay?', vol. 20, no. 5, December 1967
37. Equal pay fight goes on', vol. 21, no. 1, February 1968
38. Why "la difference"?', vol. 22, no.l, June 1969
39. Equal pay7, vol.22, no.2, August 1969
40. Equal pay claimed in insurance industry7, vol. 22, no.3, October 1969
41. Now you see it, now you don'f, vol. 23, no. 1, January 1970; Australian Insurance Staffs' Federation (AISF) Conference minutes, 10 April 1967,10 November 1969,3 May 1971
42. G. Patmore, Australian Labour History, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1991, p. 175
43. S. Kinder, 'Adelaide Women's Liberation: The first five years, 1969-1974', in Bevege et al, Worth Her Salt, pp. 370,376
44. B. Ellem, In Women's Hands? A History of Clothing Trades Unionism in Australia, New South Wales University Press, Sydney, 1989, p. 281. The relationship between the two issues is illustrated in the person of Zelda D'Aprano, who, after chaining herself to the Commonwealth Building and then the Arbitration Commission in Melbourne in protest at the inadequacy of the 1969 equal pay decision, went on to start Australia's first Women's Liberation group (Z. D'Aprano, Zelda: The Becoming of a Woman, Visa, Melbourne, 1977) 35. S. Deery and D. Plowman, Australian Industrial Relations, McGraw-Hill, Melbourne, 1991, pp. 359
45. 360
46. 127 CAR 1142-1160; Premium, March 1970
47. Special Premium, no.l, July 1972; Premium, July 1972, September 1973; AISF, Industrial Newsletter, nd [July 1972] 38. Special Premium, no.l, July 1972; Premium, July 1972
48. AISF, Submissions on equal pay, July 1972 conference with Staffs' Reference Committee (SRC) 39. Gleghorn, Life in General, pp. 37-38
49. Marian Miller, typist at Provincial Insurance 1969-1972, AISF federal organiser from 1973,11 May 1995
50. Phil Griffiths, who worked for Royal Globe Life Assurance 1972-1974,8 July 1995
51. Interview with Marian Miller, 11 May 1995; interview with Kevin Davern, 3 October 1994
52. 147 CAR 172-181
53. Special Premium, nos. 2 & 3, March & April 1973
54. AISF, Federal Executive (FE) minutes, 2 April 1973
55. AISF, FE minutes, 6 April 1973; Special Premium, August 1973
56. Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 68
57. AISF, FE minutes, 6 August 1973
58. AISF, FE minutes, 6 August 1973
59. Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 156
60. Phil Griffiths, 8 July 1995
61. AISF, FE minutes, 5 March 1973
62. Clerk and Dagger, 17 July 1973; petition, 1973 (both from personal papers, Phil Griffiths) 48. Form letter, 1973 (Griffiths papers)
63. Militant Insurance Clerks (MIC), 'Memo-Equal Pa/, n.d. [August 1973]; McLeod-Best letters 16 & 21 August 1973 (both from Griffiths papers); AISF, FE minutes, 3 September 1973
64. Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 68
65. Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 158; AISF, FE minutes, 1 October 1973
66. Report by Alleyn Best on meeting at RACV, 13 June 1973 (Griffiths papers) 52. AISF, FE minutes, 12 September 1973 and 1 October 1973; Griffin, White Collar Militancy, 158; AISF, Minutes of a meeting on equal pay, 25 September 1973 (Griffiths papers) 53. Special Premium, September 1973
67. AISF, FE minutes 12 September 1973; AISF, Minutes of a meeting on equal pay, 25 September 1973 (Griffiths papers) 54. Clerk and Dagger, 24 September 1973
68. AISF, Minutes of a meeting on equal pay, 25 September 1973 (Griffiths papers) 56. Clerk and Dagger, 5 October 1973; Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 81
69. Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 103; Premium, February 1972, p. 25
70. Interview with Kevin Davern, 3 October 1994; interview with Elspeth McCracken-Hewson, employed at National Mutual in 1975,11 May 1995
71. Premium, July 1973, pp. 26-27
72. Premium, July 1973, p. 27
73. Premium, July 1973; Nation Review, 26 October 1973; Financial Review, 20 November 1973; Melbourne Sun, 23 June 1975
74. The Age, 10 May 1973; Rydges cited in Griffin, White Collar Militancy, pp. 178-179
75. Premium, November 1973; Special Premium, nd [November 1973] 64. AISF, FE minutes, 1 October 1973; Nation Review, 26 October 1973; Griffin, White Collar Militancy, pp. 157-158; AISF, FE minutes, 19 October 1973; AISF, Minutes of equal pay mass meeting (Melbourne) 24 October 1973
76. 'AISF equal pay today' leaflet, 8 November 1973; Miccy Finn, 16 November 1973 (Griffiths papers); Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 69
77. AISF, Letter to country and suburban members, 20 November 1973; Miccy Finn, nd [9 November 1973]; AISF, FE minutes, 4 February 1974
78. Interview with Phil Griffiths, 8 July 1995
79. Miccy Finn, 16 November 1973; AISF, FE minutes, 12 November 1973
80. Commercial Union memorandum, 26 November 1973 (Griffiths papers) 70. AISF, FE minutes, 28 November 1973
81. AISF, FE minutes, 28 November & 3 December 1973
82. AISF, FE minutes, 28 November 1973
83. AISF, Minutes of mass meeting, 5 December 1973 (Griffiths papers); Melbourne Herald, 5 December 1973
84. AISF, Victorian Branch Official Notice 'Equal pay strike this Friday 14 December' (Griffiths papers) 75. AISF, FE minutes, 13 December 1973
85. 154 CAR 29-30; AISF, Federal Executive minutes, 14 December 1973; Premium, February 1974
86. Clerk and Dagger, rtd. [December 1973]; Premium, February 1974
87. Special Premium, n.d. [December 1973] (emphasis added); Clerk and Dagger, n.d. [December 1973] 79. AISF, Notes for guidance of speakers in equal pay campaign, 1974; AISF, FE resolution of 26 July 1974 (Z106, box 15, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU); Reports of meetings of women's committee, 17 and 31 July 1974
88. Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 104; AISF, FE minutes, 12 September 1974; Premium, vol.24, no.4,1974; AISF, FE minutes, 29 August, 1974,12 September 1974,11 November 1974
89. AISF, FE minutes, 8 September 1975,16 October 1975; AISF, Conference minutes, 6-10 October 1975; The Australian, 16 October 1975
90. 173 CAR 298-300; Premium, vol.26, no.l, 1976; Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 109
91. R. Lansbury, The growth and unionization of white-collar workers in Australia: some recent trends', Journal of Industrial Relations, vol.19, no.l (March 1977), p. 47
92. Mickey Finn, 25 September 1973
93. Interview with Kevin Davern, 3 October 1994; interview with Marian Miller, 11 May 1995
94. Lansbury, 1977, pp. 47-48
95. AISF, FE minutes, 22 January 1973; Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 128. 89. AISF, FE minutes, 4 February 1974, give the 1973 figure as 16,173. However, there are numerous references in Federal Executive minutes in mid-1974 to membership discrepancies in the New South Wales branch. On completion of the 1973 audit a discrepancy of approximately 500 members
96. was found (AISF, FE minutes, 1 July 1974), so I have used Griffin's more conservative figure for membership in this year (all his other figures coincide with those obtained from Federal Executive minutes). 90. Membership figures after August 1974 are influenced by the 'membership agreement' reached with the employers in that month. Under it all new entrants into the insurance workforce had to join the AISF (Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 108). 91. For example, P. Berry and G. Kitchener, Can Unions Survive?, Building Workers Industrial Union, Canberra, 1989
97. Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 18
98. AISF, FE minutes, 22 January 1973; interview with Phil Griffiths, 8 July 1995; AISF, President's report, 18 April 1973
99. Interview with Phil Griffiths, 8 July 1995; interview with Kevin Davern, 3 October 1994; Griffin, While Collar Militancy, p. 49
100. M. Thornton, 'Equal pay in Australia' in F. Eyrand et al, Equal Pay Protection in Industrialised Market Economies: In Search of Greater Effectiveness, International Labour Office, Geneva, 1993, p. 37; Griffin, White Collar Militancy, p. 129
101. Gleghorn, Life in General, p. 104; AISF, President's report, AGM, 30 April 1974
102. Gleghorn, Life in General, pp. 105,101; Premium, 1965-1979
103. Premium, September-October 1962; L. Bennett, 'Equal pay and comparable worth and the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission', Journal of Industrial Relations, vol.30, no.4, December 1988, p. 545