Custom, Job Regulation and Dock Labour in Liverpool, 1911–39

Abstract

It has been said that no other British industry, with the possible exception of coal mining, can claim such a rich or conflict-prone history of labour relations as the docks. In fact the major issues of more recent years in port transport concerning the nature of employment, strike activity and restrictive practices can only be fully understood within a historical perspective. The main focus of interest, however, of the plethora of public inquiries and research studies relating to the docks over many years has inevitably been the nature of employment – especially the effects and reforms of the casual system. Far less attention has been devoted to methods of job regulation and control over work as tools of analysis, now regarded as core elements in the study of industrial relations.