Labour Reactions to State and Federal Economic Policy During the 1919 Influenza Pandemic in New South Wales

This article analyses labour responses to state and federal economic policies during the 1919–20 influenza outbreak in New South Wales (NSW). Given the health risks and pressures placed on businesses and employees by pandemic measures, it asks whether and to what extent organised labour movements resisted state and federal impositions, and what consequences this had for subsequent government–worker relations. Drawing on Hansard, ministerial communications, Australian newspapers, and union publications, it finds that economic pressures generated by government pandemic responses led to previously unexamined 'Epidemic Wages' protests and served to exacerbate 1919's largest industrial action, the Federated Seamen's Union Strike. Connecting NSW's 1919 strike surge to pandemic pressures highlights influenza's contribution to the radicalisation of Australian workers' movements and long-term shifts in NSW wage bargaining policy.