THE REAL DOCKER
By R. J. MELLISH, M.P.* The whole question of the number of men required in the industry is being actively considered and recruitment has tem- porarily ceased. When the books are reopened the preference will again be given to sons whose fathers were registered dockers but have now died or retired. I explain this rather fully in order to anake n clear that this industry in the main is carried on from father to son. 1 am not going to enlarge on the past history of dock- land except to observe that since 1889 a bitter fight has been waged between worker and employer, leaving behind a tremendous feeling of mistrust. The older docker is very appreciative of conditions today as compared with what prevailed in the " bad old days." The younger docker knows of those struggles because his father has told him, and he is out not only to maintain all existing standards but to further improve his industry.
One thing should be emphasised. You cannot judge the docker hastily in the light of recent stoppages. You have to remember the nature of his job. If he is working on a ship and he strikes a cargo which is in a very dirty condition, and he requires a higher rate of pay, that argument has to be settled on the spot. You cannot com- pare his work with that of any other industry. Ships are coming and going all the time ; different cargoes have to be worked in different conditions. Room for disputes is vast. In such condi- tions the trade union official's job is extremely arduous. He has to be an expert not only in handling men but in his knowledge of the industry. In the Transport and General Workers' Union no member can be considered for an organiser's job unless he has had ten years' practical experience as a docker. In the Stevedores' Union he is elected by ballot. The strongest of all traditions in London dockland is that you never do another man's job. Men working in one wharf will not readily go to another. On board ship they work the continuity rule, "start and finish." Their tradition of loyalty to each other in a trade dispute is unequalled in any other industry ; even miners are not so united.
The docker, as I know him, is not concerned with political problems. He resents the intrusion of politics into his trade union branch life, though he may be willing enough to listen to Labour (or other) speakers at a public meeting after working hours. The
*Mr. Mellish is Labour Member for the dockland constituency of Rotherhithe, an organiser in the Transport and General Workers' Union (to which the great majority of dockers belong), and himself the son of a docker. Press have a way of describing the dockers as the "cloth cap crowd." That, in fact, is quite off the target. I have spoken at meetings late in the evening ; the dockers there arc, in the main, smart and neatly dressed and a stranger would hardly recognise them as the men who earlier in the day swarmed aboard ship and quay.
What about his wages ? One often reads in the Press of the Lao a week dockers. Believe me they are few and far between, and the man who earned that amount would have worked a great number of hours, including week-ends. The average wage is around L7 per week. Under the Dock Labour Board Scheme introduced by Bevin, whose name will always be revered by dock workers, a man' is on a guarantee of Ls 8s. per week provided he signs on twice a day for work (once on Saturdays). Many men, unfortunately, only get this guaranteed wage, because in a dock like the Surrey Commer- cial, which is mainly an import dock, i.e., timber-discharge, work for some time has been very slack. Most of the men are known as " preference men " and follow their own particular employer, but the Dock Labour Board is responsible for payment of their wages.
Work on board ship is in the main paid at piece-work rates, and there are agreements covering thousands of different types of cargoes, different rates of pay. It is not many years ago that beer was supplied regularly to the men whilst at work, and the gangs would themselves employ " beer boys " whose job it would be to keep them well supplied. The wages earned for that, day would be shared out by the ganger in a dockside pub. Needless to say, by the time the docker of yesterday went home most of his day's earnings would be left in the safe hands of the man behind the bar. Beer is not supplied to the men today, and from my own personal observation I should say that at no time has the consumption of beer been so low as at present. But one interesting relic of the past is still retained ; that is the special licence issued to certain public houses in the docks district to open at 6 a.m. each morning until 8 a.m. Their trade is very poor in most instances.
What, it may be interesting to enquire, does the modern dock worker read ? Years ago the midday Star with all the runners, and probably the News of the World on Sunday covered the field of his literature. Today, during lunch hours, in the local library you will find him absorbed in a wide variety of periodicals ; even the weekly reviews have their followers. He is proud of his country and vaguely understands its economic problems. You may ask how this can be in the light of his recent action. It all goes back to his deep- rooted industrial principles, and in particular his dread of being accused of working on any ship or cargo that has been named as " black." In the present dispute he is up against something that is really new to him. His previous experience has shown him that the ship or cargo in dispute was something about which he had an individual row with his employer, and it has always been the "custom and practice" to isolate such ships and cargo.
These Canadian ships have been declared "white" by his unions. But, he asks, how can this be so when some of the crew have walked off in a dispute with their employer—and so this miserable dispute drags on. The docker today is hurt and resentful. He feels the public don't understand his point of view, and he can- not or will not sec that his principles arc being exploited. I le has, as is well-known, a first-etas; record of service during the last war, and was the mainstay of the Docks Operating Companies, which did such a magnificent job in all parts of the world. He feels he is still carrying on the fight started by his father, or grandfather, 6o years ago. Many tides will ebb and flow before the dock worker loses that deep-rooted suspicion of an industry which gave his fore- bears such a raw deal. I have lived among these men all my life. I know no finer types, generous, kindly and extremely humorous.
In this dispute I think the dock worker is wrong. I have told him so, and shall go on driving home the truth that his principles are being exploited by people who owe no allegiance it this country and who are determined to smash our economy. We must prove this to the docker, not only by speeches but by irrefutable evidence. Once he is convinced that his cherished principles have been so used, he will turn on those elements and destroy them, and I believe he will have learnt a lesson that he will never forget.
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