Call for Prison Pay Rise

Dated 12 September 1974, this letter from the Prisoners’ Action Committee—signed by spokesman Barry York—was addressed to Norm Gallagher, General Secretary of the Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF).

The letter calls on Gallagher, in his capacity as a member of the ACTU Executive, to support a submission demanding pay rises for inmates of Victorian prisons. Marked with the BLF’s official stamp and received on 13 September 1974, it illustrates the formal appeals activist groups made to union leaders.

Together with the BLF’s supportive reply a week later , these documents highlight the solidarity between prisoner rights activists and sections of the trade union movement. They reflect a 1970s climate in which social justice campaigns increasingly linked the struggles of workers, prisoners, and marginalised groups.

Held in Barry York Collection.