In the preceding chapters the effects of differences in wage costs on the economics of operating different types of ships were considered theoretically; the purpose of this chapter is to examine the relevant data with a view to discovering, in so far as it is possible to do so, what their effect has in fact been. The chapter is concerned throughout with sea-going labour only. First, the labour relations system is reviewed and then its working is examined in terms of a single, albeit major, criterion: the strike record. Labour supply and labour costs, the latter with particular reference to the differences between costs under different flags, are then considered. Finally, there is a brief summing-up and overall assessment.

Where international comparisons are made in this chapter the most frequent example taken is that between Britain and Norway. As has been pointed out in earlier chapters, the comparison with Norway is of particular interest since the shipping of that country has not enjoyed subsidies or flag discrimination in its own favour and has been subject to very much the same external vicissitudes and disabilities as the British fleet.

The Labour Relations System

(a) Its Origins

For years British shipping was plagued by an unceasing and bitter struggle between the principal organizations on the two sides - the Sailors’ and Firemen's Union (founded in 1887) and the Shipping Federation (1890). The years 1888-1890 saw the upswing of the trade cycle, and the new union prospered beyond all expectations. In consequence, owners representing a majority of the country's merchant tonnage came together in 1890 to form a Federation with the express purpose of combating the union and in particular of preventing it from holding a monopoly of the labour supply. The first few months of the Federation's existence coincided with a turning of the economic tide. In the depression which followed the Federation developed a highly efficient strikebreaking apparatus and in port after port managed to secure a monopoly of the labour supply for itself. By the end of 1893 the union's power was broken; indeed, in the three years from 1891 to 1894 its membership (as affiliated to the Trades Union Congress) fell by over ninety-three percent.