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The War on Europe’s Waterfront — Repertoires of Power in the Port Transport Industry

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  • Peter Turnbull

Abstract

When the European Commission proposed a Directive On Market Access to Port Services in February 2001, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a declaration of war on Europe’s waterfront. To protect established terms and conditions of employment in the port transport industry, the ITF developed a strategy of internationalization that required dock workers to engage in a new politics of scale wrought by globalization. A new repertoire of collective action — based on more effective union articulation (i.e. stronger interrelationships between the workplace, national and international levels of organization) combined with the activities of new labour networks that connected port workers at the trans‐national corporation, port range and pan‐European levels — enabled dockers to sink the Directive in the European Parliament in November 2003. The dockers’ victory will not be lost on other European unions or indeed other global union federations, although their success will doubtless prove more difficult for other occupational groups to emulate.

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  • Peter Turnbull, 2006. "The War on Europe’s Waterfront — Repertoires of Power in the Port Transport Industry," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 305-326, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:44:y:2006:i:2:p:305-326
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2006.00499.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Verhoeven, 2011. "Dock Labor Schemes in the Context of EU Law and Policy," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 149-166.
    2. Sean O'Brady, 2021. "Fighting precarious work with institutional power: Union inclusion and its limits across spheres of action," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(4), pages 1084-1107, December.
    3. Katy Fox-Hodess, 2017. "(Re-)Locating the Local and National in the Global: Multi-Scalar Political Alignment in Transnational European Dockworker Union Campaigns," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(3), pages 626-647, September.
    4. Evans, Peter, 2010. "Is it Labor’s Turn to Globalize? Twenty-first Century Opportunities and Strategic Responses," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt10j002st, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    5. Vincenzo Maccarrone, 2024. "The Europeanization of Wage Policy and Its Consequences for Labor Politics: The Case of Ireland," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 716-741, October.
    6. Woo, Su-Han & Pettit, Stephen J. & Kwak, Dong-Wook & Beresford, Anthony K.C., 2011. "Seaport research: A structured literature review on methodological issues since the 1980s," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 667-685, August.
    7. Christian Lévesque & Marc-Antonin Hennebert & Gregor Murray & Reynald Bourque, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Worker Rights: Institutionalizing Social Dialogue Through International Framework Agreements," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 215-230, November.
    8. Raoul Gebert, 2024. "Transnational trade union strategies in the context of market integration: The case of company union clubs in the Nordic finance sector," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(3), pages 287-308, September.
    9. Katy Fox-Hodess, 2020. "Building Labour Internationalism ‘from Below’: Lessons from the International Dockworkers Council’s European Working Group," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(1), pages 91-108, February.
    10. Marianne Fischman & Emeric Lendjel, 2012. "Maritime Ports And Inland Interconnections: A Transactional Analysis Of Container Barge Transport In France," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00741127, HAL.
    11. Marianne Fischman & Emeric Lendjel, 2012. "Maritime Ports And Inland Interconnections: A Transactional Analysis Of Container Barge Transport In France," Post-Print halshs-00741127, HAL.
    12. Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray, 2013. "Renewing Union Narrative Resources: How Union Capabilities Make a Difference," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 777-796, December.
    13. Gregor Murray & Christian Lévesque & Glenn Morgan & Nicolas Roby, 2020. "Disruption and re-regulation in work and employment: from organisational to institutional experimentation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 135-156, May.
    14. Heiner Dribbusch, 2015. "Where is the European general strike? Understanding the challenges of trans-European trade union action against austerity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 21(2), pages 171-185, May.
    15. Pallis, Athanasios A., 2006. "Chapter 21 EU Port Policy: Implications for Port Governance in Europe," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 479-495, January.
    16. Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray, 2010. "Understanding union power: resources and capabilities for renewing union capacity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 333-350, August.

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