RED JOS
FACULTY OF NURSING AND HEALTH STUDIES
MASTER OF HEALTH SCIENCE (HIV STUDIES)
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
AIDS AND THE TRADE UNIONS:
A CASE STUDY OF THE AUSTRALIAN LIQUOR, HOSPITALITY AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKERS UNION 1981-1995
E.J. (MANNIE) DE SAXE
This investigative report is dedicated to Kendall Lovett, without whose constant support and encouragement it would never have been completed, and to Alison Johnston, who insisted that it would have more to it than initially would have seemed possible, and encouraged me through all the darker periods.
Also, specially for Jon Eylward, [6 October 1957 - 17 November 1992] (aged 35), who showed me what AIDS was about after the workplace, and for Terry Muldoon, [1952 to 22 July 1995] (aged 43), a great trade unionist to the end, who was interested in the progress of this report.
The report is also dedicated to all those, both trade unionists and non-trade unionists, who have died of AIDS since the virus was first reported in Australia
Adam Raffel
Kerry Bernasconi
Frank Raffaeli
Colleen Kelly
Staff of the State Library of New South Wales
Staff of the Mitchell Library
Staff of the University of Western Sydney Nepean Library
Staff of the NSW Teachers' Federation Library
and all the others, not specifically mentioned above, who helped and encouraged me over the period during which the data were gathered and the report written.
And, finally, when my printer reached the end of its useful life, Janine De Saxe and Bruce Tulloch who came to my rescue by transferring the whole document onto a disk compatible with modern technology and printing out the whole document. To them, many thanks and much gratitude for their eleventh hour assistance in the face of disaster.
ABSTRACT
In 1981 the first cases of what later came to be known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were diagnosed in the United States of America. By 1982 Australia had its first cases of AIDS.
This report, which the literature review strongly suggests is the first study of its kind in Australia, investigates the policy approaches to AIDS in the workplace adopted by the trade union movement during the period 1981 to 1995. It does this by examining, in detail, the documented record of one union, the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU), formerly the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union (FMWU).
The development of an AIDS policy by the LHMU is shown to have followed initiatives taken by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Federal Government and to have been concurrent with the development of AIDS policies within the general community.
The report outlines how the LHMU developed its AIDS in the workplace policy to comply with those required for workplaces by occupational health and safety guidelines established by State and Federal authorities. The strategies used by the LHMU to educate its members about aspects of its AIDS policy are identified. These include attempts to inform workers from non-English speaking backgrounds through the provision of information leaflets translated into a wide range of community languages.
The investigation has generated two main conclusions. The first of these is that there has been a rise and fall of interest in, and involvement with, AIDS in the workplace by the LHMU over the period 1981 to 1995. This seems consistent with similar trends within the wider Australian community. Secondly, in spite of clear documentary evidence of the LHMU's early and active involvement in the AIDS debate, at both local and national levels, there is little, if any evidence of responses or feedback from rank and file members to the policy initiatives put forward by the Union's leadership.
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This page updated 19 MAY 2014 and again on 8 MARCH 2022
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