ShapeUp and Hiring Hall A Comparison of Hiring Methods and Labor Relations on the New York and Seattle Waterfronts Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Shape-Up and Hiring Hall: A Comparison of Hiring Methods and Labor Relations on the New York and Seattle Waterfronts

It was difficult to decide on an appropriate breaking-off point for the book. At the time of writing, conditions on the New York waterfront were still highly fluid, with dramatic new developments occurring almost every week, while West Coast labor-management relations and the status of the hiring hall had been stable since 1948. The late summer of 1953 was a logical termination point since, by that time, the New York and New Jersey legislatures had outlawed the shape-up on the piers, and the ila had been expelled from the afl. These two events are of lasting importance, but it was too soon to evaluate the permanent effect of any subsequent developments. Happily, it has been possible to include an epilogue, written in January, 1955, in which the first year's experience with the government-operated hiring halls set up as part of the New York reform program could be reviewed.

The author acknowledges with pleasure the assistance of many persons in the longshore industry, in government agencies, and in the academic profession, who aided in the preparation of this study. Special thanks go to Darrell W. Cornell, Washington area manager of the Pacific Maritime Association; Charles Appel, president of Local 19, ilwu; and Lincoln Fairley, research director of the ilwu, for their thoughtful criticisms of the Seattle chapters. Anne Rand, ilwu librarian, and Corinne Light burn, Pacific Maritime Association librarian, were unstinting in their assistance and in making available original documents. Bill Gettings, Northwest regional director of the ilwu, and the Seattle staff of the National Labor Relations Board were equally generous in helping trace the background of labor relations in Seattle.

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