With a U.S. dockworkers strike looming, a history of labor mobilizing in Liverpool

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

In the U.S., talks are expected to restart this week between longshoremen and port operators to avert another shutdown of the East Coast’s docks, where automation remains a key sticking point. Looking back, one of the longest running British industrial disputes of modern times was centered around the docks in Liverpool — the U.K.’s fifth biggest port, located in the northwest England.

Tony Nelson, a former Liverpool dockworker, is one of the founders of Casa, which is a bar, venue and advice center in the Liverpool. On the walls are pictures and memorabilia from dock unions around the world.

“Well, Liverpool is a port city. People forget that nowadays,” Tony Nelson said. “It was the port of the empire, it was seven miles long. Thousands of people working down there from the late 1800s until the 1970s. It’s been through a lot.”

By the 1990s, there were hundreds of men working on the dock; the decline was down to containerization in the ’60s and ’70s, which vastly reduced the numbers required to unload a ship. But for those that remained, there was a strong sense of solidarity. And that led to a yearslong walkout starting in 1995.

“The dispute started when six young dockers were not paid for overtime,” Nelson said. “The workforce refused to cross the picket line and basically they were locked out.”

A few years before, a key labor law was abolished, making it easier for dock owners to hire and fire. About 500 locked out dockworkers were sacked. And because it was an unofficial solidarity strike, their union did not get behind it.

Nelson and his colleagues looked overseas for help — first to Australia, then to the United States. “We sent a three-man picket to New Jersey. I was one of the three people that did it, and the men refused to cross the picket line as they did in Baltimore,” he said. “And the ACL line, the Atlantic Container Line, was the biggest line that comes to Liverpool, the men would refuse to work in New Jersey.”

Another ex-docker, Bobby Morton, was very active in the dispute and travelled to New Jersey with Tony.

“It was the worst blizzard in 70 years,” he said. “We were standing there, and we could see right along the road, and there was no traffic on it, until in the distance there was a speck. It was a convoy of motor cars that was full of dockworkers who were coming to work the ACL ship at the terminal. They knew our story, and they wouldn’t cross our picket line.”

This led to negotiations with dock management, but Bobby said the talks soon fell through. The dispute eventually came to an end after more than two years, with the dockworkers agreeing to pay offs, weary after surviving on donations for so long.

“Things were hard,” Morton said. “Two and half years, no wages coming into any house. We managed by hook or by crook to get through the whole thing.”

For the past 20 years, the port has been owned by Peel Ports, which didn’t want to contribute to this report. It’s the fifth biggest in the U.K., with 1,200 workers.

These days, Morton represents dockworkers for the Unite union. He was involved in a strike here over pay two years ago and thinks automation is a looming threat to workers.

“No matter what happens, it will come,” Morton said. “Now, our role as representatives is to get the best deal possible out of it.”

There is some automation but it’s not yet widespread. Tony Nelson thinks this is down to wage rates.

“The wages in the U.K. don’t compare to the United States, Australia,” he said. “They’re much lower so there’s not so much of a rush to do away with labor costs.”

Richard Ballantyne represents port owners as head of the British Ports Association.

“If there is going to be any modernization at ports, as there invariably will be, it’s about taking those workers with you. This could be around environmental improvements, it could be safety improvements,” he said.

Ballantyne disagreed with Nelson on pay and said the pace of change depends on factors like the type of goods coming in and the lifespan of existing infrastructure.

“I think the unions have been relatively positive about automation, but they do have some fundamental concerns, which I think they’re working with the port employers to deal with,” he said.

Despite the visibility and history of the industry’s labor unions, it seems further change for U.K. ports remains on the horizon.