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This is a study of
the world’s first transnational strike, by more than 10,000 British
seamen in their home ports, along with South Africa and Australasia.
Many of these seamen had won pay increases during the Great War of
1914-18 for their bravery in continuing to work their ships in the face
of the German submarine menace in the North Atlantic. In 1925 they took
what amounted to ‘wildcat’ strike action because those same increases
were removed – not by their employers but at the behest of their own
union leaders in Britain. What was proposed and accepted by the
shipowners was a cut of one pound a month – from ten pounds down to nine
pounds – which by Australian standards placed them well below the
poverty line. The strike tied up British ships on the Cape routes to and
from Britain and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for several
months, causing chaos not only in the passenger trade but in those
primary industries dependent on exports to Britain – then the major
market for virtually all Australasian and South African exports. ISBN 0 85905 355 5 (2005 New), Soft Cover, A4, 71pp, 210grams, $22.00 + POST All Hesperian Press books are printed on quality paper and will not discolour with age. |
