Defending Dock Workers—Globalization and Labor Relations in the World's Ports

Abstract

Globalization has precipitated a major restructuring of the world's ports and brought in its wake a marked deterioration in dock workers’ terms and conditions of employment. Many trade unions have found it difficult to protect their members’ interests against this international “race to the bottom,” most notably in those countries where dock labor has been historically poorly organized but also where industrial restructuring has been used as a vehicle to de‐unionize the industry. Other unions have been more successful, either by working in concert with private employers and public port authorities or by mobilizing their membership to contest and contain the process of industrial restructuring.