Page 178 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 178
plex Gateways
Occupational profiles and qualification – a new image for dock
work
Developments in work organization continuously led to new working
methods and techniques. However, after 1950, the responsible compa-
nies, institutions, and politics experienced significant institutional, tech-
nical, and structural changes. For a long time, dock workers were charac-
terized above all by muscle power. Therefore, the restructuring with the
focus on technical skills strongly influenced the workers’ self-image and
the perception others had of people in the port. Below, I will shortly out-
line the central structural developments.
Whereas the bars around the port used to be the place of employ-
ment for casual workers, this system changed when in 1906 port employ-
ers founded the Hafenbetriebsverein (HBV). The HBV introduced work
cards to control the labour market and divided the workforce into per-
manent workers, unskilled workers, and casual workers. The HBV was
the first institution for job placement, but it had no specific intention to
improve the social situation. This kind of employment changed with the
founding of the Joint Dock Company (Gesamthafenbetrieb/GHB), the la-
bour pool of the port, created by the National Socialists in 1934. All em-
ployers in the port became affiliated with the GHB, which assigned its
workers to the respective company. All port workers received a port card.
Anyone who had a card was and is considered a dock worker; this system
is still valid today. Furthermore, the port card entitled workers to the
right to an employment contract with the GHB. In the case of being dis-
missed from a private port company (Hafeneinzelbetrieb/HEB), workers
were assigned a job with the GHB, depending on the conditions of their
dismissal. Although this safety net only lasted until 1969, it continued to
be associated with some kind of autonomy in several interviews. The aim
of the foundation of the GHB was to control the workers and, above all,
to politically de-radicalize them.
Immediately after the Second World War, the Joint Dock Company
continued its work. Although the British Control Commission removed
the legal basis of the institution, several associations and the trade un-
ion ÖTV (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr)
continued its work in non-institutionalized ways. On 3 August 1950, the
Federal Council passed the Law on the Creation of a Special Employer for
Dock Workers (Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft 1997), and prepared
the ground for a ‘democratically constituted labour pool’ (Bartsch 1999,
178
Occupational profiles and qualification – a new image for dock
work
Developments in work organization continuously led to new working
methods and techniques. However, after 1950, the responsible compa-
nies, institutions, and politics experienced significant institutional, tech-
nical, and structural changes. For a long time, dock workers were charac-
terized above all by muscle power. Therefore, the restructuring with the
focus on technical skills strongly influenced the workers’ self-image and
the perception others had of people in the port. Below, I will shortly out-
line the central structural developments.
Whereas the bars around the port used to be the place of employ-
ment for casual workers, this system changed when in 1906 port employ-
ers founded the Hafenbetriebsverein (HBV). The HBV introduced work
cards to control the labour market and divided the workforce into per-
manent workers, unskilled workers, and casual workers. The HBV was
the first institution for job placement, but it had no specific intention to
improve the social situation. This kind of employment changed with the
founding of the Joint Dock Company (Gesamthafenbetrieb/GHB), the la-
bour pool of the port, created by the National Socialists in 1934. All em-
ployers in the port became affiliated with the GHB, which assigned its
workers to the respective company. All port workers received a port card.
Anyone who had a card was and is considered a dock worker; this system
is still valid today. Furthermore, the port card entitled workers to the
right to an employment contract with the GHB. In the case of being dis-
missed from a private port company (Hafeneinzelbetrieb/HEB), workers
were assigned a job with the GHB, depending on the conditions of their
dismissal. Although this safety net only lasted until 1969, it continued to
be associated with some kind of autonomy in several interviews. The aim
of the foundation of the GHB was to control the workers and, above all,
to politically de-radicalize them.
Immediately after the Second World War, the Joint Dock Company
continued its work. Although the British Control Commission removed
the legal basis of the institution, several associations and the trade un-
ion ÖTV (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr)
continued its work in non-institutionalized ways. On 3 August 1950, the
Federal Council passed the Law on the Creation of a Special Employer for
Dock Workers (Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft 1997), and prepared
the ground for a ‘democratically constituted labour pool’ (Bartsch 1999,
178
