ABSTRACT

This chapter offers a glimpse of what life and labour along the Clydeside waterfront was like, but this is all it can offer. It neither adequately deals with the great complexities of waterside labour, nor does it satisfactorily describe the long and arduous task of building effective and widescale dock unionism at Glasgow. Workers' Union in 1932 the Glasgow dockers finally achieved their ideal, and with it the autonomy and control over trade union affairs that they had struggled towards over so many years. In 1912, however, the dockers proved too strong for them and for the first time in the history of dock trade unionism at Glasgow formal recognition and joint collective bargaining was conceded by all the employers at the port. Documentary and secondary published sources relating to trade and the growth, development and management of the Port of Glasgow are widely available.