PROCEDIMIENTO PARA LA ATENCIÓN DE SITUACIONES DE CONSUMO DE

port and the centralisation of the employment of dock labour, there

was no trade union into which dock workers in the employ of the

department were organised* A small proportion of workers among the

artisan grades (deployed to the port to undertake civil and mechanical

\

maintenance work by the Railway Administration), had been members of

the Railway Workers’ Union, but these withdrew their membership in

protest at the failure of the leadership of the union to support the

1

1955 strike. Another small group were members of the Artisans’ Union.

Since stevedoring had not been integrated with the other functions

of the department and continued to be undertaken by the shipping

1 Interview with Pa Karahke Limba 28 February 1980; aged about 63, Pa Karanke had forty years behind him as a docker, and had been a member of the Works Committee. Gifted with a keen memory and great sensitivity in his perception of issues and events, as well as a great sense of humour, Pa Karanke offered a friendship which was of great value to the researcher.

companies, the Maritime and Waterfront Workers’ Union, into which

these workers were organised, operated outside the jurisdiction of

the port management. Thus the 1,94-8 lower paid workers in the employ

of the department or deployed by the Railway Administration in 1954-

(Table 3.4-) were not organised into a central trade union. The Works

Gommittee was therefore designed to fill the vacuum left by the

absence of a trade union organisation to represent the dockers.

Before examining the working of the committee and its subsequent

failure, the impact of the 1955 strike will be discussed.

Wages of shore cargo handlers in the employ of the Port Management

Department and of stevedores in the employ of the shipping companies

were fixed by a statutory Maritime Wages Board."*" It was the custom

and practice for wage settlements reached at the Transport and Artisan

JIGs to be taken as the minimum wage rates for skilled workers (and

adjusted accordingly for unskilled workers such as port labourers)..

The fact that these bargaining bodies were 'wage leaders’ explains

the profound interest of workers throughout the country in the

negotiations proceeding the 1955 strike. At the Port, officials of

the Railway Workers’ Union and the Maritime and Waterfront Workers’

Union dissociated themselves from the strike (c.f. Chapter 2) and in

view of the widespread use of casual labour (and the associated job

insecurity among the workers) sufficient dockers remained at work to

enable the port to continue to function. Nonetheless, a significant

number of dockers picketed the docks, causing much harassment and

irritation to the port management. According to a report prepared by

the port manager for the authorities:

TABLE 3,

A

Port Management Department work force 1954. and 1962

CATEGORY 1954- 1962

Salaried 4 0 ^ 76(3)

Daily wage 32q(1) 629 ^

Casual 1 6 2 8 ^ 6 0 5 2 ^

Total lower paid 194-8 6681

SOURCES

(1) Port Authority Archive, Governor’s Annual Address, 8 October 1954- (Notes prepared by the Port Manager on the activities of the Port for the governor!s_ annual review of the work of the administration at the Legislative Council).

(2) Sierra Leone, Annual Report of the Labour Department 1954- (excludes stevedores).

(3) Port Authority Archive, Work Force, March 1962.

(4-) Sierra Leone, Annual Report of the Labour Department 1962 (-this figure is the total number of dock labourers and stevedores registered at the labour pool)•

'..•all staff were warned of the consequence of strike action by government employees and 1 was satisfied that sufficient men would remain loyal to carry on essential work... Actual damage to port property consisted of broken windows at the labour recruiting centre and in the police box at the Main Gate and the cost of repair amounted to £12.0.Od* Owing to reduced working hours in view of the disorders and the subsequent

curfew, delays in the despatch of shipping probably amounted to a further £1,000. There was some loss of revenue to the port as a result of reduced output owing to the state of tension but it is impossible to calculate the amount of loss involved.

This experience was instructive to both the port management and

the dockers in their employ. The strike demonstrated to the

management the damage to the reputation of the port that might

result from such action among international shipping companies* This

was seen to be critical in view of recent attempts at modernisation

and reorganisation, and for the success of the strategy to make

Freetown an attractive port of call to shipping traffic on the West 2

African coast. For the dockers, confidence in the leadership of the

Railway and Maritime Unions was shaken and the necessity of a trade 3

union to represent their interest was demonstrated. The formation

of an independent dock workers' union was a natural consequence, and

indeed, the origins of the union have been said to lie in the lessons

learnt from the strike*^ The management responded by seeking

amendment to the existing labour legislation to allow the creation of

1 Port Authority Archive, The strike and subsequent disorders in relation to the port of Freetown, n.d., circa March 1955*

2 Interview with M. B. Bennett, 14 January 1980.

3 Interview with Pa Karanke Limba, 28 February 1980.

an independent JIC for the port industry at which negotiations on

wages and working conditions could be undertaken. The introduction

of a Works Committee within the Port Management Department, at which

representatives of management and of the work force should deliberate

issues relating to the work process, was also planned. In his annual

Christmas message, the port manager informed workers of these plans:

’In the field of staff and labour relations, arrangements are well advanced for the

establishment of a Works Committee to facilitate consultation between management and employees and for the setting up of a single Joint Industrial'Council to embrace . the whole port industry* It is also planned to obtain the services of an experienced Training Officer to draw up and supervise training schemes for all grades of employees*** I am confident that by continuing to work together as a team, we shall succeed in establishing a truly efficient port*..1!

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