British Capital Antipodean Labour: Working the New Zealand Waterfront 1915-1951

This book is about work on the New Zealand waterfront in the first half of the twentieth century. With a small domestic market, the country depended for its wealth on trade with the rest of the world. That trade relied on the carriage of goods by sea and so the ports played a vital role in the nation's economy, and in the nation's labour relations. A series of bitter labour disputes arose out of the differing goals of shipping companies and waterside workers, culminating in 1951. Based on oral histories with both former employers and workers, this is the first book to take the long view on the processes of work on the waterfront, considering the organisation of labour and the ownership of the industry. It is especially relevant as the old issues, including insecurity of employment and intensified hours of work, resurface.