COLLECTIVE MIGHT

OLIVER STEAD

DESCRIPTION Banner of the Wellington branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, 1909 Oil on silk on board, about 2350 × 1850 mm

MAKER / ARTIST Maker unknown; based on a design by A. J. Waudby (c. 1817–1872)

REFERENCE Donated by the New Zealand Carpenters Union (G-830-3)

Labour Day was first observed by trade unions on 28 October 1890; this elaborate banner was carried in the Wellington Labour Day parade of 1909.

Proudly emblazoned with emblems of the trade, the giant banner of the New Zealand Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, thought to have been made specially for the 1909 Labour Day parade, proclaims the collective might of the union’s Wellington branch members. The banner’s design was based on one created by British artist Arthur Waudby in the 1860s. Its architectural facade is surmounted by the biblical carpenter Joseph, while female figures below represent Industry, Art, Justice and Truth. Other images represent benefits available to members. The society’s international headquarters in Manchester, England, held the design, which was copied widely throughout the British Empire.

Labour Day was first observed by trade unions on 28 October 1890. It marked the establishment of the eight-hour working day in New Zealand, and was celebrated in the main centres with parades attended by thousands of workers and supporters. It became an official public holiday in 1899. The ‘eight-hour day’ movement in New Zealand had been going since 1840, started by carpenter Samuel Duncan Parnell (see page 44). During the inaugural 1890 celebrations, and shortly before his death, Parnell was acknowledged as the father of the movement at a special ceremony in Newtown, Wellington.

The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners was established in this country in 1860. It survived into the early 2000s, becoming New Zealand’s longestrunning trade union organisation. ‘This Society is one of the most powerful trade societies in the world,’ proclaimed the 1897 Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Wellington branch members, said the Cyclopedia, could earn between 50 and 60 shillings per week. They paid the association a subscription of 1 shilling per week, and ‘9d. [pence] per quarter for contingencies’.

The society’s benefits were ‘numerous and liberal’. For example, members ‘when unemployed get 10s. [shillings] per week for the first twenty-six weeks, and 6s. per week after that time till employed again. When sick, members get 12s. per week for twenty-six weeks, and 6s. thereafter as long as they are ill. In case of an accident they get £50 if partially disabled, and £100 if totally disabled. The allowance during a strike is 15s. weekly.’

At the time the banner was created, New Zealand had one of the most highly unionised workforces in the world. In these days of reduced union influence, many workers who are engaged in unpaid overtime, zero-hours contracts, staggered shifts and weekend work might well yearn for the era of strictly enforced and zealously guarded eight-hour days.