1986 Strike
The 1986 50-Day Strike
On 30 October 1986, an estimated 5000 nurses attended the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre and voted overwhelmingly to commence an indefinite strike the following day. Contrary to all expectations, the strike would last for 50 days, capturing the public consciousness and radically altering the way nurses were viewed in Victoria, both professionally and industrially. This account of the strike is presented in five parts: antecedents of the strike, beginning of the strike, co-ordination and exacerbation of the strike, critical care walkouts, and the aftermath.
The University of Melbourne
Archival evidence is also presented:
- Title
- Nurses vote for right to strike, Royal Australian Nursing Federation (RANF) News, Victorian Branch, December 1983
- Date
- 1983
- Control
- 2006.0027
- Source
- University of Melbourne Archives
- Title
- Rule Change, Myer Music Bowl, 1985
- Date
- 1985
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Tandberg cartoon from the Age, July, 1985
- Date
- 1985
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Nurses: Your duty of care, ANF pamphlet on nurse-patient ratios
- Date
- 1997
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Address from Irene Bolger to all nurses to join the RANF(Vic) as an industrial union
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Nurses fight back, Nurses' Action, August 1986
- Date
- 1986
- Control
- 2006.0027
- Source
- University of Melbourne Archives
- Title
- Stopwork meeting, 30th October, Nurses' Action, October 1986
- Date
- 1986
- Control
- 2006.0027
- Source
- University of Melbourne Archives
- Title
- Strike march, 1986
- Date
- 1986
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Fund-raising at the Royal Children's Hospital
- Date
- 1986
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Speech by Irene Bolger. Western General, November 1986
- Date
- 1986
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Speech by Irene Bolger. Labour Day Meeting, 1987
- Date
- 1987
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Speech by Irene Bolger. Demonstration in City Square, August 1987
- Date
- 1987
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Dedication doesn't pay the rent: The story of the 1986 Victorian nurses' strike, Liz Ross, Socialist Action
- Date
- 1987
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Campaign song
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library
- Title
- Speech by Irene Bolger, 1988. Professionalism and unionism: Contradictions and tensions
- Date
- 1988
- Source
- Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library