Origins
At the time of the strike, the labour movement in New Zealand was expanding rapidly. The New Zealand Federation of Labour (known as the "Red Fed"), which was linked to the Socialist Party, was gaining considerable support from the working class, and the Waihi Trade Union of Workers, to which many miners belonged, was part of the Federation. Disputes between the union and the large Waihi Goldmining Company were frequent. Miners had many grivences with conditions of work and often downed tools and walked off the site in response to accidents in the mine– falls, broken limbs, crushing, brusings and even the occasional fatality. A more insidious killer than the accidents was miners' phthisis- dust on the lungs. Because of 'miners complaint' as it was known, men who started mining at 16 would be lucky to reach 40. The company offered no compensation for miners and long before the strike (1906) there was a feeling among them that “there were too many accidents, to many maimings, too many deaths... Miners would ask themselves bitterly what they were dying for. The answer seemed to be: for themselves, ₤2/8s. a week, just enough to feed and clothe their families; for the shareholders in the Waihi Gold Mining Company, a quite fabulous flow of unearned income."
In May 1912, a number of stationary engine drivers who rejected the Federation of Labour's strong positions established a breakaway union. Although the Waihi Goldmining Company claimed to have no involvement in the breakaway union, saying that it was a matter of union politics, many workers believed that the Company was attempting to split the union, and called a strike. The local police chief reacted cautiously to the action, but Police Commissioner John Cullen ordered a strong response, dispatching additional police. Two months later, the conservative Reform Party came to power — the new Prime Minister, William Massey, declared that he would strongly oppose the "enemies of order".
Read more about this topic: Waihi Miners' Strike
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