The tram strike of 1932

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 23

The tram strike of 1932

The Lucifer: A Story of Industrial Conflict in New Zealand’s 19305. By Dave Welch. Dunmore Press/ Trade Union History Project, 1989. 189 pp. Illustrations. $24.95.

Dave Welch, assisted by the Trade Union History Project, has written a detailed account of events in Christchurch during the winter of 1932, and of the ironic - reversals of fortune that followed quickly afterwards. It makes a very good story, an arresting fragment of New Zealand social history, even though the author is not reluctant to let his own opinions intrude into what he has to describe.

The 1932 tram strike in Christchurch was one of the most significant industrial events of the Great Depression of the 19305. It divided the community sharply and left a legacy of great bitterness. It led to violence and accusations of violence; it also helped to launch a number of the main participants, on the union side, on their political careers.

The troubles arose at the height of the Depression when the Christchurch Tramway Board, then a conservative authority, tried to reduce its costs by cutting staff. The board juggled the ideas of firing staff, or of rationing — of reducing working hours. The board was uncertain what to do, but in the end resorted to dismissals. The union was equally uncertain how to respond. But the board’s own clumsiness seems to have decided the issue. Among those dismissed in 1932

was the union president, Mr Jock Mathison. What had been a question of how best to limit the pain of reducing tramway staff or working hours turned into a question of victimisation. In 1932 the board appeared to win. The trams kept running; the strike was broken. But a year later, in new elections for the Tramway Board, the tables were turned. Labour candidates dominated the new board. Strikers were reinstated; those who had resisted the strike began to claim victimisation.

Among the successful candidates was the union president who had precipitated the strike, and Jock Mathison was to go on to become Minister of Transport in a Labour Government 25 years later. —Literary Editor.