The Fremantle Lumpers Union was a trade union formed in 1889 and active until 1946 when it became part of the Waterside Workers' Federation, Fremantle Branch. It was the first union to represent unskilled workers formed in Western Australia.

The 1919 Fremantle Wharf riot, also known as the Battle of the Barricades, arose out of a strike by stevedores in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1919. The strike was called by the Waterside Workers' Federation (WWF) over the use of National Waterside Workers Union (NWWU) workers to unload the quarantined ship Dimboola, and escalated into fatal violence when WWF workers and supporters attempted to prevent NWWU members from carrying out the work.