Workers of the world and workers of a single industry (original) (raw)
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Communists, always a minority in the face of a libertarian, apolitical or broad left majority in the dockers union, through the study of five strike conjunctures with different international and national configurations. See halshs-02291917v1
International Review of Social History, 1997
This international comparison firstly examines labour market organization, casual labour and work mentality in North American seaports and in Hamburg. By contrast to British ports, these ports finally dispensed with casual labour between the world economic crisis and the Second World War, and labour markets there were centralized. Secondly, the industrial militancy of mobile dockworkers without permanent jobs is examined through a consideration of syndicalist organizations (1919-1921), and interpreted as an interplay of experiences with power in the network of labour market, workplace and docklands. The study refers repeatedly to the decisive dividing line between regularly and irregularly employed dockworkers. National differences in trade union representation and dispute behaviour are analysed by reference to dockworkers' direct actions. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A N D CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH There is already a wide range of comparative studies in labour history. Such comparisons can provide a new stimulus for the much-discussed question of the future of labour history. In the process, not only should recent methodological approaches (such as analysis of language or of the relationship between the sexes) be put to the test, but "mistaken or premature certainties" should also be reexamined. 1 The areas predominantly treated in the most recent comparative international case studies are mining and the engineering industry. Strike research too appears to concentrate on the analysis of these occupational groups. 2 By comparison 1 On the theoretical basis for comparative studies, sec Thomas Welskopp, "Stolpersteine auf dem KOnigsweg. Methodenkritische Anmerkungcn zum intemationalen Verglcich in der Gesellschaftgeschichte", Archivfilr Sozialgcschichte, 35 (1995), pp. 339-367 (quote on p. 361), and the articles by Christiane Eisenberg and Marcel van der Linden/JUrgen Rojahn in ibid., 34 (1994) and 35 (1995). 2 For case studies, see Thomas Welskopp, Arbeit und Macht im HUttenwerk. Arbeits-und industrielle Beziehungen in der deutschen und amerikanischen Eisen-und Stahlindustrie von den 1860er bis zu den 1930er Jahren (Bonn, 1994); Klaus Tenfelde (ed.), Towards a
Discourse on the docks: containerization and inter-union work disputes in US ports, 1955-85
Research on labour markets has often focused on the economics of work location. Far less attention has been paid to how labour markets are constructed discursively. In this paper, I analyse how the creation of rival discourses concerning traditions of work were central elements in the efforts of two unions to structure local labour markets, in order to retain work for their members in the face of technological innovation. The struggle between the two unions centred on their abilities to construct rival discourses concerning the historical geography of work in the industry. These formed the basis for judicial interpretations concerning whether the actions of the dockers' union represented a legal work preservation action or an illegal work acquisition measure. Such interpretations shaped the subsequent evolution of work and labour markets in the industry. The ability of economic actors to shape discourse in their favour can be a powerful force in the regulation of local labour markets, and thus in the production of economic landscapes. key words International Longshoremen's Association International Brotherhood of Teamsters trade union work rules discourse United States labour markets technological innovation Rules on Containers law ports
Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 2004
In 1949, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) created a structure of 'Vigilance Committees' (VCs), composed of its European dockers' and seafarers' member-unions. The VCs were to spearhead the ITF's counter-offensive against any Communist attempt to disrupt the transport through Western European ports of the goods and personnel necessary to the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the Atlantic Pact. The potential Communist challenge was strongest in France and Italy, where the dominant dockers' and seafarers' unions were Communist-led and were affiliated with the ITF's counterpart in the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), but it was a series of unofficial strikes in British ports in the summer of 1949 that propelled the ITF's creation of a Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) and its regional subsidiaries (RVCs). The ITF and its supporters were later to claim that the failure of the Communists to exert any decisive influence in western European ports during the Cold War could largely be attributed to the VCs' activities. The Mediterranean RVC, in particular, was given credit for defeating the Communists in a region that was seen as very vulnerable to Communist-inspired disruption; the RVC's biggest achievement had been to confront the Communists' dominance in the port of Marseilles, where they had been regarded as impregnable. This article analyses the role of the Vigilance Committees and the claims made for them.
Organizing the Militants: the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions, 1966-1979
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 1999
The Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions has been largely ignored in conventional accounts of the campaigns against restrictive union legislation in the 1960s and 1970s. This article discusses the origins of the LCDTU, provides an account of its activities centred on the union struggles against state intervention, and brie¯y explores some of the issues concerning rank-and-®le movements. It concludes by suggesting that, although the LCDTU merits recognition for the key role it played in defeating the legislation, it can best be characterized as a front organization of the Communist Party rather than as an independent rank-and-®le movement.
Defending Dock Workers?Globalization and Labor Relations in the World's Ports
Industrial Relations, 2007
Globalization has precipitated a major restructuring of the world's ports and brought in its wake a marked deterioration in dock workers' terms and conditions of employment. Many trade unions have found it difficult to protect their members' interests against this international "race to the bottom," most notably in those countries where dock labor has been historically poorly organized but also where industrial restructuring has been used as a vehicle to de-unionize the industry. Other unions have been more successful, either by working in concert with private employers and public port authorities or by mobilizing their membership to contest and contain the process of industrial restructuring.