The New Citizens Council: A 1950's Migrant Trade Union

Magazine

Nilsson, Ebony and Persian, Jayne. 2024. "The New Citizens Council: A 1950's Migrant Trade Union." Radical Currents: Labour Histories. (4), pp. 18-19.
Article Title

The New Citizens Council: A 1950's Migrant Trade Union

Article CategoryMagazine
AuthorsNilsson, Ebony and Persian, Jayne
Publication TitleRadical Currents: Labour Histories
Radical Currents: Labour Histories
Journal Citation(4), pp. 18-19
Article Number6
Number of Pages2
Year2024
PublisherAustralian Society for the Study of Labour History
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN2653-472X
Web Address (URL)https://www.labourhistory.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Radical-Currents-No-4-2024.pdf
Abstract

In October 1958 Polish migrant Jerzy Bielski, established a new trade union with a Greek partner, Solon Baltinos. Bielski had split acrimoniously with his former employer, the Australian Workers Union, for whom he had worked as a migrant organiser. This new trade union, named the New Citizens Council, was to be exclusively for migrants, in response to the perceived rejection of non-English-speaking migrants by Australian trade unions. While the migrant vote had been courted by Australian trade unions during the lead-up to the Labor Party split, by the later 1950s the unions were less interested in their migrant members and were disparaging of migrants’ unique problems. Bielski and Baltinos recognised migrant needs, communicating with the workers in familiar languages, and protesting their exclusion from both trade union and political conversations.

Keywordstrade unions; migrant; Australia; New Citizens Council; post-war
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020430302. Australian history
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Byline AffiliationsAustralian Catholic University
University of Southern Queensland
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