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We now realise the purpose for which the police force exists. It exists to intimidate us, to break our unions and strikes and help employers to bind and rivet us to the chains of ignominy which they have been carefully forging.(1)
In 1912 the mere action by tramwaymen of attaching a union badge to their watch chains led to a complete shut down of industry in Brisbane, and to one of the most extreme uses of force in Brisbane's city streets. This struggle led to a massive upsurge of support on the part of women; it also led to Emma Miller becoming part of the folklore of Queensland for her fiery and defiant defence of trade unionism.
The Brisbane tramways at this time were not under municipal control, but were run by a private British company with as manager, J. S. Badger, an American; a man with a deep seated hatred of unionism, unpopularly nicknamed "Boss" Badger or "Bully" Badger.
Instead of one Brisbane City Council as now, Brisbane was divided into separate local councils until the early 1920s. As far back as 1893, during a strike which was supported by Emma Miller and other women, unions had unsuccessfully called on the Combined Brisbane Councils to take over the tramway company. In 1910 a special meeting of the local councils rejected Badger's proposal for a 25-year extension of the tramway company's franchise.
Again, as in the period before the shearer's strike, fear of the seemingly revolutionary goals of growing trade unionism was widespread among the establishment. It brought reaction from employers and the liberal government under Premier Denham. Added to the industrial strength of the unions with a more secure base than in the 1890s was their alliance with the Labor Party. Attempts to thwart further growth of the workers' movement were imminent.
The tramway company had been making high profits, almost doubling them in a year; fares, however, were the highest in Australia, double those in other states, and services inadequate. Drivers had no weather shield to protect them from the elements and, according to Truth, the old fashioned hand brakes made the trams dangerous, with deaths and accidents to pedestrians reported as regular happenings.(2) Working women had their battle with the company and,...