Class struggle and the "community of families": the 1992 dispute at Associated Pulp and Paper Mills

The 1992 dispute at Associated Pulp and Paper Mills in Burnie, Tasmania, provides a useful case study of how the spouses of a predominantly male workforce can become heavily involved in class struggle. Women in unpaid work played an important and creative role in organising peaceful picketing and in securing a high degree of morale between and within families. This study also examines an obscure kind of involvement by the spouses of men in class struggle: the mobilisation against domestic violence. It considers why this apparently unique form of class and gender action took place and reflects on the implications for union strategies in periods of industrial conflict.