The Strike Went Bang! Ford Broadmeadows 1973, the Longest and Most Bitter Strike in the History of the Australian Car Industry

This article explores the 1973 strike at Ford’s plant in Broadmeadows, Victoria, the longest and most expensive car strike in Australian history. Despite this, it has been largely overlooked by scholars, with more attention focused on Holden. The article uses interviews with former workers, managers and union officials to unlock the history of the strike. Also drawing on archives and newspaper accounts, we explore why workers struck and the legacy of their stand, both at Ford and more widely. We argue that the strike was representative of a broader “war” between Ford and its majority-migrant workforce that dated to the plant’s opening in 1960. The key issues were high line speeds and poor plant conditions, including shopfloor racism. Managers, largely from Anglo-Australian backgrounds, were unresponsive to workers’ repeated complaints, as were most union officials. Helped by the strike, however, labour relations at Ford shifted into a “peace” phase that lasted until the plant’s closure in 2016. The strike – which occurred as the long-standing White Australia policy was being dismantled – also produced more recognition of migrant workers’ rights, especially by the labour movement. These changes symbolised wider shifts, as Australia edged towards multiculturalism.