Green Bans, Red Union: The Saving of a City [Paperback]

At the height of the building boom in the 1970s, a remarkable campaign stopped billions of dollars worth of indiscriminate development that was turning Australian cities into concrete jungles. Enraging employers and politicians but delighting many in the wider community, the members of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation risked their jobs to preserve buildings, bush and parkland. The direct impact of this green bans movement can be seen all over Sydney.Green Bans, Red Uniondocuments the development of a union that took a stand.

The authors throw abundant light on the diverse aspects of the revolutionary direction taken by the NSW BLF in these years.  —Rebel Worker

"The definitive account of the glory days of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation and the green bans." —Australian Society for the Study of Labour History

"The authors throw abundant light on the diverse aspects of the revolutionary direction taken by the NSW BLF in these years." —Rebel Worker

Verity Burgmannis Adjunct Professor of Political Science in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. She is the author of numerous studies of labor and social movements. Meredith Burgmannwas a Member of the Legislative Council of NSW (Labor) from 1991 and President from 1999 until 2007.