Waterfront revolts

About this book

"During the decade that followed the end of World War II, dockworkers in New York City and London undertook a series of militant revolts against their employers, their governments, and their union leaderships. In this innovative comparative study, Colin J. Davis explores the dynamics of work and work stoppage along these two pivotal waterfronts. He identifies the structural and cultural forces that lay behind the emergence of rank-and-file dockworker movements, enabling workers to challenge union hierarchies and to wring concessions from national governments." "Davis examines the ethnic and racial profiles of workers and how their racial standings determined entry into the workforce. He discusses the work itself, with its shared sense of skill and danger, use of nicknames as identifying signals, and pilferage as a form of rebellion and entitlement. He examines the alienation of the work force from employers and top trade union officials, exploring ties between the New York union leadership and organized crime, intimate links in both cities between the unions and political administrations, and the states' concerted efforts to protect trade routes, stanch Communist influence, and buttress trade union allies. Davis also documents struggles by New York black and Hispanic longshoremen against union and employer discrimination and shows how the wildcat strikes in both ports altered the balance of power and facilitated the establishment of viable oppositional movements." "Addressing questions of why dockworkers were such influential and explosive forces in the postwar industrial arena, Waterfront Revolts reveals how workers and trade unions directly influenced cold war politics, the economy, and culture - even across geographical borders."--Jacket.