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THE BIRTH OF BADGE SHOW DAY
"Union Badge Next Week - Let Every Sponger Be Noted", such was the catch cry headline in the Barrier Daily Truth on 11 January 1923.
A campaign to ensure that all workers on the mines were members of the union was launched jointly by the Workers Industrial Union of Australia (WIU of A) and the Trades and Labour Council (TLC) in earnest in January 1923, and with this came the birth of Badge Show Day. The first “Badge Show” was held at the various mines, over a two day period, on 15th and 16th January 1923. WIU of A members and other unionists affiliated with the TLC were urged to procure their union ribbon to wear on both days so that the identities of all non-unionists (spongers) working on the mines would be known to the union men. The campaign was an overwhelming success.
Today, the BIC Badge Show serves much of the same purpose although the wearing of a badge is no longer compulsory and in some circumstances prohibited for health and safety reasons. Also, some unionists would prefer that their employer did not know that they were members of the Union. So the wearing of the badge has become more a matter of tradition and, in doing so, showing all and sundry that you are proud to be a part of the Union.
Badge Show Day is held four times each year, once every quarter, on the first Tuesday on or after the 15th of February, May, August and November.
Workers on the mining leases wear a badge that is colour-coded for the particular shift worked on the day. Since the late 1920's, the Day Shift badge is red, the Afternoon Shift badge was blue and the Night Shift badge is yellow. With the introduction of the 12 hour shifts in the mining industry came the phasing out of the Afternoon Shift badge. Until the late 1980's, members of the Workers Industrial Union of Australia (WIU of A) wore badges specifically indicating that Union. Town workers wear a plain coloured badge, usually white. Each badge is numbered and that number is recorded against the member's name.
Today, the badges are produced by the Broken Hill Trades Hall Trust.