'Silent forms of coercion': Welfare Capitalism, State Labour Regulation and Collective Action at the Yarraville Sugar Refinery, 1890-1925

Abstract

From 1890 through the early decades of the twentieth century, the Colonial Sugar Refinery under the leadership of Edward Knox introduced a wide range of welfare measures including pensions, sickness benefits, company housing and company loans for houses. Through these measures Knox hoped to insulate his workforce from unions and state regulation of the labour market. However, his workforce lived and worked in industrial suburbs where they could compare their wages and conditions with workers who were in unions and were covered by awards. Such comparison became more acute during a period of wartime inflation when their wages fell behind neighbouring workers. When industrial unrest erupted in ..