Page 189 - 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. 189
A Respected Profession After All: Work Structures and Self-Perceptions ...
The attitude of the former stevedore Achmed Amanat towards the
duty and function of the trade union varies significantly from German
colleagues’ statements. Amanat left Istanbul in 1968, and after several job
positions in Germany and France came to Hamburg in 1977. Amanat ex-
plains his initial scepticism towards the institution. This may also be since
experiences with unions from other countries differed greatly (Goeke
2011). However, he emphasizes the importance it eventually gained for
him: ‘I used to get annoyed about it. But later on, I understood what it
was all about. As a worker, you don’t think about the advantages, but they
pay attention to it. Most of the workers have to be in the union to stand
up for something in a strong way. [...] Whenever we had issues, we went to
the workers’ council’ (Achmed Amanat, 1942). The union developed into
an approved counterpart. Eventually, the membership strengthened his
self-perception as a dock worker as well as part of the working commu-
nity: ‘We were, I mean […] we never said, uh, he’s Portuguese, German,
Turkish, we never said that. We were always equal in the community’
(Achmed Amanat, 1942). While he may have experienced discrimination
of any kind in his everyday work, e.g. due to language skills, the trade un-
ion in his portrayal appears as a non-hierarchical space in which he knew
his rights were secured. His remarks indicate that organizations such as
the trade union, which for many workers of German origin had an in-
creasingly minor role as a reference point, could have a different value
and significance for workers with a different background.
Class-consciousness as symbolic value
Alongside the effects on informal networks and institutions, the in-
creased economic capital affected the political participation of many
workers. New structures and qualifications led to an increased process of
individualization.
While due to structural transformations and job cuts, various strikes
took place in American ports as early as the late 1960s and English ports
during the 1970s, the port of Hamburg and its workers, who worked
around the clock, profited from these conflicts as the shipping companies
made for the Hamburg port instead of Liverpool, for example (Grobecker
1985, 138). In 1979, the labour pool even employed 69 English migrant
workers with temporary work contracts, coming above all from Liverpool
and Manchester. However, as they had to pay unexpectedly high social
security contributions and earned so little that the work did not pay
189
The attitude of the former stevedore Achmed Amanat towards the
duty and function of the trade union varies significantly from German
colleagues’ statements. Amanat left Istanbul in 1968, and after several job
positions in Germany and France came to Hamburg in 1977. Amanat ex-
plains his initial scepticism towards the institution. This may also be since
experiences with unions from other countries differed greatly (Goeke
2011). However, he emphasizes the importance it eventually gained for
him: ‘I used to get annoyed about it. But later on, I understood what it
was all about. As a worker, you don’t think about the advantages, but they
pay attention to it. Most of the workers have to be in the union to stand
up for something in a strong way. [...] Whenever we had issues, we went to
the workers’ council’ (Achmed Amanat, 1942). The union developed into
an approved counterpart. Eventually, the membership strengthened his
self-perception as a dock worker as well as part of the working commu-
nity: ‘We were, I mean […] we never said, uh, he’s Portuguese, German,
Turkish, we never said that. We were always equal in the community’
(Achmed Amanat, 1942). While he may have experienced discrimination
of any kind in his everyday work, e.g. due to language skills, the trade un-
ion in his portrayal appears as a non-hierarchical space in which he knew
his rights were secured. His remarks indicate that organizations such as
the trade union, which for many workers of German origin had an in-
creasingly minor role as a reference point, could have a different value
and significance for workers with a different background.
Class-consciousness as symbolic value
Alongside the effects on informal networks and institutions, the in-
creased economic capital affected the political participation of many
workers. New structures and qualifications led to an increased process of
individualization.
While due to structural transformations and job cuts, various strikes
took place in American ports as early as the late 1960s and English ports
during the 1970s, the port of Hamburg and its workers, who worked
around the clock, profited from these conflicts as the shipping companies
made for the Hamburg port instead of Liverpool, for example (Grobecker
1985, 138). In 1979, the labour pool even employed 69 English migrant
workers with temporary work contracts, coming above all from Liverpool
and Manchester. However, as they had to pay unexpectedly high social
security contributions and earned so little that the work did not pay
189
