A shortage of money to sustain the strike and a plentiful supply of strikebreakers eventually defeated the strikers. Wage cuts were introduced for everyone in the maritime industry, with wage cuts of up to 30 per cent. The defeat of the 1890 maritime strike and the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, laid the framework for the Australian labour movement entry into parliamentary politics. The New South Wales Labour Defence Committee summed up the unions mood in this statement: the time has come when trade unionists must use the parliamentary machine that in the past has used them. References Labour disputes in Australia Maritime strikes Maritime history of Australia 1890 in Australia 1890 labor disputes and strikes