A comparison study of labour relations in the waterfront industry of Wellington, New Zealand and Halifax, Nova Scotia

Abstract

The shipping of goods by container has been one of the most dramatic technological changes ever to affect the world's shipping industry. The impact of that change has gone far beyond questions of a technical nature and has affected all aspects of that industry. This work deals with two roughly equivalent ports, Wellington, New Zealand and Halifax, Nova Scotia, which were subjected to the trauma of this changed technology during the same time period. A comparision study is of interest because, while the technological changes were similar, the legal structures available to deal with this change were radically different. To assess the success of those structures in coping with the impact of this new technology, it was necessary to describe in some detail the nature of the technological developments in the area, the history of the ports in question, together with the structure and development of the institutions utilized to control conflict in the industry. A theoretical assessment of the type of conflict present in each port was developed to assist in providing an explanation of the success of each institutional structure in controlling the conflict generated by the introduction of containerization. Finally, an analysis was made of the viability of transposing successful institutions from one setting to another.