[2][3] The union was deregistered on 16 March 1950 for having "repudiated arbitration and decisions of a constituted authority" due to the actions of the Victorian branch in the 1950 Victorian tramway strike.
[4] The strike ended on 26 April, with one of the conditions being that the Tramways Board would not oppose re-registration.
[5][6] On 15 May 1969 Clarrie O'Shea, the Victorian State Secretary of the union, was jailed by John Kerr for contempt of the Industrial Court after he disobeyed a court order that his union pay $8,100 in fines, under the penal sections of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act.
This triggered a major national strike to demand "Free Clarrie and repeal the penal powers".
On the sixth day, O'Shea was released when the fines were paid by a man who claimed to have won the New South Wales lottery.