Kōrero: Class

Striking Auckland watersiders are lined up along the city's wharves to prevent cargo being loaded or unloaded. The 1890 maritime strike, which was sparked in support of attempts by Australian wharfies to form unions, was the first major industrial dispute in New Zealand. The event saw considerable class consciousness form among some workers in New Zealand – miners and seafarers as well as wharfies – but ended in almost total defeat, and the class language did not spread far outside the working class communities of the big cities.