The act of forming the union was itself not only a bureaucratic achievement but an announcement that dockworkers refused to continue simply deposit themselves in the process of their own exploitation. For decades longshoremen were treated as workers who could be thrown away and be easily replaced, and not to be respected. This narrative was reversed in the creation of a national union. It provided workers with a voice to negotiate directly with shipping firms and it was no longer possible for the workers’ demands to be brushed aside as those of some discontented men.
The symbolism of the union that was being formed sent shockwaves felt up and down the docks, as well other groups of workers in other industries –
mining, steel and railroad workers – began to get a sense of what collective action might look like.
The labor movement had been provided a hope, and a vision for how to make union an effective tool.
Bargaining Union Contracts and on the Job Protections.
If anything, the most significant achievement that followed the founding of the union was to allow workers and management to sign contracts.
Dock workers had been rolling with the uncertainties over the years —
whether they would be hired for work on any given day, so much they could earn a day and whether they would come home safely.
This began to change with the power of collective bargaining by the union.
Contracts brought order where there had been anarchy.
Wage was set at the contractual rates, human shifts were limited and new safety facilities had been introduced.
It was not an ideal, but the difference was himself.
At long last, seamen had an image that depicted them as able to speak,
and not just stare silently into the distance with no real means of support apart from exploitation.
A Pivot by Dockworkers in Identity.
The formation of the American Longshoremen and Harbor Workers Union was also a significant transformation in self-understanding by the dockworkers.
Historically, they were isolated workers who did at times have to compete against one another for jobs
and whose fates rested largely in the hands of their employers.
After the union was completed, they became part of a larger fellowship
which was bound together not by trade alone but by their faith in dignity and justice.
Nor was this identity confined to the docks; it shaped how longshoremen came to be involved in their communities, larger politics.
It was not just a union in the ordinary sense of an organization but it was part of our members’ lives; to be an ‘groupageivo’ was their pride,
shaped their cultural and social identity and how they saw themselves in this world that still rings through generations.
Strikes, Struggle and Early Victories.