The '''Mount Isa Mines Strike '''was a
[strike](List_of_Strikes "wikilink") at Mount Isa,
[Australia](Commonwealth_of_Australia "wikilink") from [1964 to
1965](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Oceania "wikilink"). Although
starting as a simple dispute over wages, it quickly turned into a
complex struggle for control of [trade unions](Trade_Union "wikilink"),
being a contest for control of the mine either by the
[IWW](Industrial_Workers_of_the_World "wikilink"), [communist-controlled
unions](Authoritarian_Socialism "wikilink"), [liberal
unions](Liberalism "wikilink") and the desire of the mining corporation
to have little union influence at all.
## Background
At the time, Mount Isa Mines was one of the largest
[mines](Mining "wikilink") in Australia, producing copper, zinc, lead
and silver. As it was a hugely-profitable operations and required many
workers, there had been unrest in the past over pay and bonuses
disputes, and the strike erupted when the mine rejected the unions push
for a $4 an hour wage increase during collective bargaining
sessions.\[1\]
## Events
The striking miners employed many tactics during the strike, notably [go
slows](Go_Slow "wikilink"). There had also been a car chase at some
point, killing an unknown individual. The miners were led by IWW member
[Pat Mackie](Pat_Mackie "wikilink"), who was born in New Zealand and
spoke with an American accent, leading the news to say that he was a
foreign agent trying to make it easy for China to invade Australia. He
was eventually expelled from the [Australian Workers'
Union](Australian_Workers'_Union "wikilink") and fired from the site,
whilst local [police](police "wikilink") were given the power to search
houses without a warrant and seize strike materials.\[2\]
## Results
The strike eventually resulted with the police loosing many of the legal
powers and the original demands of the strikers being met.\[3\]
## References
1. [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") -
2.
3.