People Australia

Alexander Grassie (Alick) Rankin (1878-1960) blacksmith and trade union official

Birth: 20 March 1878 at Menindie, New South Wales, son of Allan Shearer Rankin (1855-1900), born in Scotland, and his first wife Kate, née Mason, later Dare (1853-1936). Marriage: 6 July 1904 (by Church of Christ minister T. J. Gore) in the residence of his stepfather Samuel Doug Ware at New Parkside, South Australia, to Elizabeth Whyte (1876-1946). They had a son and a daughter. Death: 12 June 1960 in his usual residence at Elizabeth Street, Mornington, Adelaide. 

• Family moved to Victoria about 1880 where his father abandoned his mother. His mother moved to Adelaide and remarried in 1889. His father had moved back to NSW where he married again in 1890. He was charged with bigamy and served two years in gaol. A few years after his release he committed suicide.
• Alick organised workers in what became the Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking Union in the early 1890s. There was strong opposition by employers to its establishment and active unionists were often victimised.
• He was honorary secretary of the Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking Union and later was employed part-time on a very small salary. This union and the Sheet Metal Workers Union partially amalgamated in 1945 and later fully amalgamated, as the Sheet Metal Working, Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking Industrial Union of Australia. Rankin was secretary of the South Australian branch until his death, having held every official position.
• The union grew both numerically and financially during his time as secretary. He assisted in many applications for increased margins and improved conditions in cases before the Arbitration Commission, especially on behalf of the Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking section.
• He was delegate to federal conferences and was executive member of the federal council from the amalgamation of the unions
• Was an active member on Adelaide Trades and Labour Council. Represented his union at the Australian Council of Trade Unions. President of the Eight Hour Day committee in 1920.
• Rankin was also an active member of the Australian Labor Party and a candidate in the municipal election for Unley in 1918.
• Member of the Independent Order of Rechabites.
• Cause of death: myocardial infarction (years) and chronic bronchitis (years).

Sources
Sheet Metal Worker, August 1960, p 3.