page_title: Waihi miners' strike
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Waihi miners' strike / Origins
caption_attribution_description: On 12 November 1912, striking-unionist Frederick George Evans was fatally wounded, becoming the first person to die during an industrial dispute in New Zealand. Known as 'Black Tuesday', the event led to the violent end of the Waihi Strike, which had begun six months earlier. The New Zealand labour movement at that time was undergoing a deep radicalisation. As a result, workers across New Zealand were increasingly questioning the arbitration system. Introduced in 1894, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (ICA) outlawed strike action and forced unions and employers into negotiated industrial awards governed by the Arbitration Court. A series of strikes - including the 1908 Blackball Strike - gave rise to the ‘Red’ Federation of Labor, which encouraged direct action outside of the ICA. Affiliated unions, including the miners of the Waihi Trade Union of Workers (of which Evans' was a member), began to de-register from the ICA. So when 30 Waihi engine drivers re-registered under the Act in May, the Waihi union struck in protest. Local police initially took a low-key response to the dispute. But Police Commissioner John Cullen soon ordered extra forces to be sent to the town. Enthusiastically backed by the newly-elected Reform Government of William Massey, Cullen was given powers to crush the 'enemies of order'. Eventually about 80 police - 10% of the New Zealand Police Force - were deployed in the town. As nzhistory.net notes, "escalating violence in Waihi culminated in the dramatic events of ‘Black Tuesday'". A crowd of strike-breakers and police stormed the miners’ hall, at the time defended by Evans and two or three others. Both sides were armed, and during a struggle at the door a strike-breaker was shot in the knee. There is debate about what exactly happened next, but as the unionists retreated Constable Gerald Wade was shot in the stomach. Evans was struck down by a police baton and savagely beaten by strike-breakers. Left for an hour and a half in police cells before being taken to hospital, Evans never regained consciousness and died the next day. As the strike collapsed, strikers and their families were hunted through the streets by armed mobs. The violence was as vicious as any seen in a civil conflict in New Zealand, and hundreds of unionists and their families were driven out of Waihi over the following days. The image above shows a large march of unionists and their families through Waihi, led by the union band. It comes from a collection of historic Ministry of Works photographs depicting roads and bridges (www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=24414). Archives Reference: ABKK 24414 W4358 Box 533/ 13761 www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23459001 For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter twitter.com/ArchivesNZ Material from Archives New Zealand
context_page_description: The Waihi miners' strike was a major strike action in 1912 by gold miners in the New Zealand town of Waihi. It is widely regarded as the most significant industrial action in the history of New Zealand's labour movement. It resulted in one striker being killed, one of only two deaths in industrial actions in New Zealand.
context_section_description: At the time of the strike, the labour movement in New Zealand was expanding rapidly. The New Zealand Federation of Labour (known as the "Red Fed"), which was linked to the Socialist Party, was gaining considerable support from the working class, and the Waihi Trade Union of Workers, to which many miners belonged, was part of the Federation. Disputes between the union and the large Waihi Goldmining Company were frequent. Miners had many grievances regarding their working conditions and often downed tools and walked off the site in response to accidents in the mine (falls, broken limbs, crushing, brusings and even the occasional fatality). A more insidious killer than the accidents was miners' phthisis, dust on the lungs. Because of 'miners complaint' as it was known, men who started mining at 16 would be lucky to reach 40. The company offered no compensation for miners and long before the strike (1906) there was a feeling among them that
  there were too many accidents, too many maimings, too many deaths... Miners would ask themselves bitterly what they were dying for. The answer seemed to be: for themselves, £2/8s. a week, just enough to feed and clothe their families; for the shareholders in the Waihi Gold Mining Company, a quite fabulous flow of unearned income.
  In May 1912, a number of stationary engine drivers who rejected the Federation of Labour's strong positions established a breakaway union. Although the Waihi Goldmining Company claimed to have no involvement in the breakaway union, saying that it was a matter of union politics, many workers believed that the Company was attempting to split the union, and called a strike. The local police chief reacted cautiously to the action, but Police Commissioner John Cullen ordered a strong response, dispatching additional police.
  Two months later, the conservative Reform Party came to power — the new Prime Minister, William Massey, declared that he would strongly oppose the "enemies of order".
caption: A large march of unionists and their families through Waihi, led by the union band.
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