Ep 23 – Resistance on the line: the radical history of telephone operators
People's History of AustraliaShow Notes
From the 1880s until the 1980s, telephone operators were at the centre of the communications industry in Australia. Before the invention of the internet or mobile phones, virtually all telecommunication across the country and internationally took place through landline telephones. And operators, who connected calls to their intended destination, were completely essential to that process.
Employed first by the federal government and then by the government-owned corporation Telecom, operators worked in gruelling conditions – a predominantly female workforce, they were subject to low pay, a physically and mentally overwhelming pace of work, and consistent threats to their occupational health. For much of their history, they also had a union which refused to take up their interests and which saw itself as almost an arm of management. Then, in the 1970s and 1980s, this abruptly changed, and telephone operators became some of the most militant workers in Australia, staging inspiring strikes and work bans to fight for better conditions on the job.
In this episode, we talk with librarian, union activist and historian Jeff Rickertt about the extraordinary history of the telephonists. We explore how essential their work was to the everyday functioning of Australia’s economy, how the telephonists have been virtually erased from history, how it was that their union became completely co-opted and tamed by management, and how, beneath the surface of a seemingly quiescent workforce, resentment and resistance were always present, and were only waiting to explode into industrial militancy and activism.
You can read Jeff’s PhD thesis on the telephonists here. Sign up to our Patreon now to have the chance to get a free copy of Jeff’s history of the telephonists, Resistance on the line, which is currently retailing for $250.
Opening and closing music courtesy of Glitter Rats. People’s History of Australia logo design courtesy of Nissenbaum Design design .
More from People's History of Australia
In April 1998, Australia suddenly erupted into industrial war. Security guards with dogs and balaclavas swarmed docks across the country, threw out all 1,400 unionised workers at Patrick Stevedores, and then replaced them with a non-union workforce. Blockades sprang up at major ports, thousands of workers walked off the job to support the sacked wharfies, and the country seemed poised on the brink of a general strike.
The idea that Australia was invaded in 1788 is strangely controversial. A Google search for the phrase ‘Was Australia invaded’ provides an AI-generated answer claiming that ‘Australia has not experienced a full-scale foreign military invasion of its mainland’. The Wikipedia history of Australia makes no mention of invasion or indeed any warfare between between Aboriginal nations and the colonisers at all, and large numbers of articles ask ‘Was Australia invaded in 1788?’ as if the issue is somehow not obvious.
In contemporary Australian mass culture, it’s hard if not impossible to find any representation of life as it’s lived by the majority of the population. Few movies, plays, TV shows or documentaries reflect what it’s like spending most of your waking life working to make a boss rich, struggling to keep up with bills, or dealing with sexism, homophobia, racism, and other oppressions – and practically none depict things like going on strike or opposing fascism. With all major media and cultural production owned either by the government or huge corporations, this situation has prevailed throughout virtually the entire post-invasion history of Australia.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, a powerful and radical new movement arose in Australia challenging the widespread oppression that women faced across the country – the women’s liberation movement.
Throughout Australian history, Chinese workers in Australia have been demonised for their alleged enthusiasm for undercutting white workers and happily embracing terrible working conditions from the 19th century until the present day. Fortunately, these racist myths are precisely that - myths. From the arrival of the first Chinese migrants in the 1840s, Chinese workers in Australia have an extraordinary history of rebelling, resisting, going on strike, and collectively fighting against their employers for better wages and better working conditions. To talk about this amazing history that has been virtually hidden and ignored, we're joined in this episode by Liam Ward, a filmmaker and academic at RMIT University in Melbourne, who has researched and publicised some of the stories of Chinese workers in Australia and their struggles. Find full show notes and links for this episode, including more details about our upcoming day-long People's History festival, at our website - www.peopleshistory.com.au Support us on our new Patreon account here - www.patreon.com/peopleshistoryofaustralia