Occasionally, however, a work-stoppage clearly had "a negotiating
thrust," i.e., it was undertaken in the hope that the contract might be in
some manner changed. In either case, the effectiveness of such
action was essentially rooted in the employers' inescapable and
ongoing dependency upon the experience, initiative, innovative
skills, and good will of the men.
While the men were destined to evolve a great number of
ways of collectively expressing and, therefore, experiencing
their community with one another, job action was for years the
mass, democratic form. It was also the most direct, immediate,
and vibrant. As a collective expression and experience of
community, job action was a veritable fountainhead of
organizational elan and individual verve.
By concretely reminding the men of the nature of their struggle
and of the means whereby disputes and grievances might be
resolved to their satisfaction, it was also destined to play a
vital role in their evolution and self-education as a community.
Hence, the militancy of these men was in certain fundamentally
important respects the most complete expression and embodiment
of their occupational satisfaction.
THE COMMUNITY AT WORK
In order to illustrate the ways in which the work performed
by these men could generate such powerful "forces toward
community" as have been delineated, that work may finally be
depicted in some detail.
In this connection, then, it must first be noted that there was
no "typical" workday. The diversity of cargo and operational
circumstance was simply too great. Since, however, most jobs
had a number of operational junctures, e.g., rigging the ship's
gear, the discussion may focus upon those junctures in order to
highlight what was most distinctive about the work.
Due to the nature of their work, all dock and hold men
worked as a partner with one other man.
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