Capitalist Restructuring and Socialist Strategies for the Port Transport Industry

Abstract

Deregulation of industrial relations in the port industry by the Conservative government has led to lower employment, weaker trade unions and above all the reemergence of casual labour in the docks. This casualisation has resulted in an excessive fragmentation of operations that in turn has been harmful to an efficient port transport sector. The author argues that a new strategy for labour in the port industry needs to be formulated in the context of an economy-wide transport policy.