Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia
The Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia was an Australian trade union covering workers in the construction industry. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia It was originally established as the Australian District of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, initially forming part of the English trade union, with a carpenters' union having been active as early as the 1840s. It was first federally registered under that name in 1911. In 1922, it was renamed the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia, when it absorbed many members from the collapsing Australian Society of Progressive Carpenters and Joiners. Expanded coverage Discussions about merging the various building industry unions had begun by the 1930s, and in 1934, the New South Wales state carpenters' and bricklayers' unions merged as the Building Workers' Industrial Union, with approaches also being made to the plasterers', painters' and labourers' unions. In 1943, the issue of amalgamation on a broader scale emerged again. The federal Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners sought to expand its coverage to workers across the entire building industry, and changed its name to the Building Workers' Industrial Union, with a number of state-level unions merging into the union. In