Green Bans, Red Union

Environmental Activism and the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation.

At the height of the building industry 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 New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation risked their jobs in order to preserve buildings, bush and parkland.

Green Bans, Red Union documents the development of a union that took a stand on a number of social issues. Apart from the green bans movement, union members also used their industrial power to defend the rights of oppressed groups, such as Aborigines, women and homosexuals. In telling the colourful story that inspired many environmentalists and ordinary citizens - and gave the word 'green' an entirely new meaning - Meredith Burgmann and Verity Burgmann open a window on a period when Australian workers led the world in innovative and stunningly effective forms of environmental protest.