Hundred and Fifty-One Days

DESCRIPTION: "For a hundred and fifty-one days a lock-out! The kids and mum get a knock-out! The union funds' pay then run out!" "A thousand pay but the company locks out... they'll get the cops out." "They lock us out, then call it a strike."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement hardtimes New Zealand
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 80, "151' Days" (1 text, 1 tune, called "Hundred and Fifty-One Days" in the source notes) (p. 60 in the 1972 edition)
RECORDINGS:
Bill Taylor, "Hundred and Fifty-One Days" (on NZSongYngCntry)
NOTES [225 words]: According to Gordon Ell, Kiwiosities: An A-Z of New Zealand traditions & Folklore, New Holland Publishers, 2008, p. 257, the phrase "The 151 Days" refers to the "Duration of the waterside workers' strikes (or the Waterfront Lockout) of 1951. Prime Minister Sid Holland broke the impasse by deregistering the waterfront unions and bringing in troops to work the wharves."
On p. 274, Ell reports, "This test of left- and right-wing politics was finally won by the National government abolishing the waterfront unions and setting up new ones. In a state of national emergency, servicemen were used as strike breakers to keep essential goods moving over the wharves and around the coasts. The strike spread from the waterfront to encompass other unions which affected the means of production and distribution.... The waterfront workers' leaders, President H. Barnes and Secretary T. Hill, were represented as evil 'commies' by one side but revered by the other. There were street demonstrations with some violence; a railway bridge near Huntly was damaged by dynamite. It became illegal to help a waterfront worker or to speak about conditions brought on by the strike...." Eventually Labour Party leader Walter Nash convinced Prime Minister Holland to call an election over the issue; Holland won, which effectively meant that the strikers lost. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: Colq060

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