The Dockers
Why were dockers employed on a casual basis?
The employers only took on men when trade picked up and they needed them. Much of the trade was seasonal and it was difficult to predict when ships would arrive.
So on some days there were a large number of ships in the docks, on others very few. The demand for men varied accordingly.
According to the Times, 29 August 1989, the number of men employed 'may be some days 3,000, the next day 200, these are extreme cases.'
The employers wanted to have a large number of men available for work but they did not want to pay them when there was no work.
H: 'How extraordinary are the fluctuations (changes) in the number of men employed is shown by the statement of Colonel Du Plat Brown that "it may be some days 3,000, the next day 200, these are extreme cases."
TheTimes, 29 August 1889.
I: 'Most of the main cargoes were seasonal, sugar from the West Indies, timber from the north, spices from the Far East.
Furthermore, bad weather could hold back the arrival of a fleet by several weeks. The number of ships arriving weekly in London Dock in 1859 varied between 29 and 141.
In the period of four successive weeks in 1861, West India Dock arrivals numbered 42, 131, 209 and 85. In the pre-machine age, when ship loading and discharge (unloading) was a labour-intensive operation, the number of men required varied enormously from day to day, even from hour to hour, for there was very little advance notice that a ship was arriving.'
R. Douglas Brown, The Port of London, 1978.
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The Dockers|
The Strikes of 1889 |
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The Closure |
Contact
Nigel Sagar
Design and Technology
London Borough of Barking
and Dagenham
Email: nigel.sagar@lbbd.gov.uk
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