Mount Isa Mines

The conflict we're going to hear about today emerged over the class struggle in the area.

One of the most significant episodes of that history was the Mount Isa mines dispute 1964-65.

As we hear in the talk, the dispute grew over a few minor kind of issues around conditions for the workers and developed into fairly significant class struggle between the bosses and the government.

The workers faced a powerful mining company, hostility from sections of the political class and difficult struggle for support beyond their own town.

Now important and impressive though this resistance was, to do this resistance justice would require a whole other talk, so perhaps at a

future conference.

The focus of my talk tonight will be the rank and file dispute that erupted in 1964 between 2,500 members of the AWU and workers at the Mount Isa mines against their bosses, the state and federal governments, and even their own union leaders.

Despite workers eventually returning to work on the company's terms, for six long months The Mount Isa dispute captured the imaginations of workers across the country and stands as a testament to workers' self-activity and organisation.