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Kōrero: Strikes and labour disputes

The end of the 1890 strike

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The end of the 1890 strike

The 1890 maritime strike ended in total defeat for New Zealand’s newly established unions. First the unions in Australia, where the dispute began, were forced back to work after large numbers of strike-breakers took over the strikers’ jobs. Soon afterwards the Maritime Council, a confederation of the main New Zealand unions in the strike, ordered a return to work. The council disintegrated after this defeat, and the unions took many years to recover their membership and former strength.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: North Otago Times, 11 November 1890, p. 2

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Mark Derby, Strikes and labour disputes – Early labour disputes, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/20472/the-end-of-the-1890-strike (accessed 10 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Mark Derby, i tāngia i te 13 May 2010, updated 1 March 2016.