Institute of Commonwealth Studies

The collection held here stretches back to the 1940s and includes accounts of industrial disputes from that period from the likes of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union and the N.Z. Carpenters' and Related Trades' Union. Many of the later items originate from the Public Service Association, a white-collar union, and the umbrella organisation the New Zealand Federation of Labour, often consisting of critiques of government economic policy that reflect the increasing difficult circumstances the unions found themselves in in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As well as these materials and those of other unions representing specific industries there are also productions issued by the Labour Women's Council concentrating on the issues facing female union members.