The Great Dock Strike of 1889
The Effects of the Strike 1
F: 'Terms of agreement
1. The 5d. rate per hour be raised ... on and after November 4th next to 6d. per hour, and 8d. Per hour overtime.
2. Men called in not to be discharged with less than 2s. pay.'
The Times, 14 September 1889.
G: 'I am asked, what is the net result of the Strike! I can answer in a word, the strikers have gained 1d. Per hour for ordinary time ... 2d. Per hour after 8, while the four hours call for 2s. Pay gives a permanency ...
Contract has been abolished. By the abolition of contract the men cease to be sweated by the gangers...
What other result has the Strike accomplished? It has destroyed now and for all time the system of sweating under which the docker found himself compelled to labour at starvation wages for the profit of his employer.'
John Burns, The Great Strike', New Review, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1889.
H: The 1889 strike resulted in an expansion of trade unionism throughout the Port of London. The chief beneficiary was undoubtedly the Tea Operatives' Union [re-named the Dockers' Union] whose membership grew from a few hundred at the start of the strike to nearly 18,000 at its close.'
John Lovell, Stevedores arid Dockers, 1969.
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Contact
Nigel Sagar
Design and Technology
London Borough of Barking
and Dagenham
Email: nigel.sagar@lbbd.gov.uk
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