Fintan Patrick Walsh, c1956. Walsh is perhaps best remembered
as a controversial opponent
of striking waterside
workers during the bitter 1951 waterfront dispute.
As a
leading trade unionist from the 1930s through to
his death in 1963, Fintan Patrick Walsh established himself as one of the most
powerful figures in New Zealand. His ruthless manner in dealing with opposition
aroused great
loathing in his enemies.
The cover picture on an issue of New Zealand Coal in 1982 featured all the paid-up members of the Charming Creek union, then thought to be the world’s smallest union.
The brainchild of Liberal Minister of Labour William Pember Reeves, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act made New Zealand the first country in the world to outlaw strikes in favour of compulsory arbitration.
