Laurie Short iconic figure

Date: 25 March 2009

One of the great figures of the Australian labour movement, Laurie Short, the Secretary of the Federated Ironworkers Association from 1951 to 1982, passed away, aged 93 on Tuesday afternoon in Sydney.

A funeral service for the late Laurie Short AO,OBE

will be held on Wednesday, April 1, 2009  at 2pm

Sydney Trades Hall, Goulburn St

Laurie Short

“ Laurie Short, was a legendary figure in the Labor Party and the union movement during the tumultuous 1950s,” Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary said.

Crucial role in keeping Labor together

“ He was quite correctly credited with holding the ALP together in NSW at a time when the 1950s Labor Split tore apart the party in other states.

“ Key historians of the period argue that the FIA was able to play the important role of keeping the party together because it was widely respected as highly competent under Short’s leadership,” Paul Howes said.

In 1993 the FIA – then known as the Federation of Industrial, Manufacturing and Engineering Employees (FIMEE) amalgamated with the Australian Workers’ Union.

Avoided sectarian splits

“ Laurie Short is credited with finding, supporting and promoting a young Englishman, John Ducker, through the labour movement leading him to become the legendary strong man of the NSW union movement and the NSW Labor Party.

“ In turn Ducker, with Short always nearby, steered NSW’s labour movement away from fracturing along sectarian lines that – as the result of The Split – was the hallmark of industrial and political labour in other Australian states,” Paul Howes noted.

Former Premier Wran acknowledges Short kept Labor strong

In 1982, when Laurie Short retired after 30 years leading the FIA the then NSW Premier Neville Wran said the union leader was

“ responsible, probably more than anyone else, for the fact that the Labor Party of NSW did not split in 1955. The importance of that fact, not only in the NSW Labor Party, not only in the Party throughout Australia, but its importance to Australia itself, can hardly be exaggerated. And if nothing else, if the Party had split in NSW in 1955, in the state with the strength of Labor which is the whole key to our strength throughout Australia, I don't think there would be a Labor government in NSW now, and I don't think I would be standing here as the Premier of NSW . . . “

"In August last year we were all proud to have Laurie Short as our honoured guest in the NSW Parliament building when 250 people came together to pay tribute to the FIA and Laurie – on the centenary anniversary of the founding of the union," Paul Howes said.

Welcomed post-war migrants into unions when others refused to recruit

“ Soon after Laurie Short took over the leadership of the FIA he was able to report an extraordinary 20 per cent growth in membership.

“ This was largely because while others ignored, feared or even refused to recruit the post-war immigrants – especially those from Eastern Europe - Short was ready to reach out and organise this growing non-English speaking immigrant work force.

“ These workers, called New Australians at the time, loved Short for that – and were deeply loyal to him over many years.

Bitter and sometimes violent fights against hardline Stalinists

“ Laurie Short and his activists in the FIA, throughout the 40s and early 50s, were at the centre of a bitter, tempestuous and sometimes violent struggle, for control of the union.

“ The struggle between communists and anti-communists was acrimonious because of the critical role the union's numbers would play in the way the Labor Party eventually evolved - especially in NSW,” Paul Howes said.

“ Laurie Short, headed the anti-communist faction which wrested control of the union from the hardline Stalinist leadership.

Maintaining the values of free, independent and democratic unionism

“ The extraordinary legal, and often physical, battles ensured the FIA was fodder for almost daily screaming newspaper headlines throughout the late 40s and early 50s.

“ Short was one of the pioneers of communism in Australia but rejected these ideas as the Cold War dramatically escalated inside trade unions when he chose to stand with those who were fighting to maintain the values of a free, independent and democratic labour movement.

At the centre of Australia politcs

“ The many academics and journalists who have documented this period have always placed the FIA smack bang at the centre of the political agenda of the time.

“All the historians talk of this particular union struggle as having been crucial to the post-war development of the labour movement and the post-war development of Australia's political values.

An international perspective for unionism

“ While today there is much talk of the need for unions to adopt a global view the FIA can boast of being an early adopter of these ideas.

“ As a result of this tradition, created by Laurie Short, there is in Sydney this week a meeting of ten steelworker unions, from across the globe, working together to discuss how we best represent our members in the face of the twin global issues of climate change and the global financial crisis.

“ Under Laurie’s leadership they were building close relations with the United Steelworkers of America way back in the 1940s, relations which the FIA maintained and built upon throughout the 1950s and then expanded to build relationships with similar unions in Britain and Japan.

AWU now building on Short's global focus

“ It is due to this history of deep and close relations with the Steelworkers - which has its origins in five decades of constant and regular communications and meetings - that our union recently signed a 'Strategic Alliance' with the Steelworkers.

“ This new Alliance aims to build even closer co-operation across the globe with unions in common sectors such as steel, aluminium and chemicals - all industries which the FIA first began organising in way back in 1908,” Paul Howes pointed out.

“In today's AWU the legacy of the Ironworkers is felt in every part of our organisation. The big Ironworker industries of Steel, Aviation, Manufacturing, Aluminium, Chemicals still form the bedrock of the Union as we move forward to build a Union which always knows that we are Stronger Together.”

Married to a remarkable artist

Laurie Short was married to the remarkable artist Nancy Borlase, who died in 2002.

Short ‘s father, Alexander, who he credited with exposing him to union values was a shearer or a shearer’s cook and belonged to the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and served as a union delegate.

Laurie Short is survived by a daughter, the journalist, Susanna Short and two grand-children.

What the media said

• He helped to civilise capitalism - SMH

• Death of ironworkers union legend Laurie Short - The Australian
  

• Unionist kept Labor intact - Melbourne Age
  

For further information

Contact:	Paul Howes, National Secretary
Union:	AWU
WWW:	http://www.awu.net.au/

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