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*Migration Histories > Irish > Politics
* Eager For Work 
 
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Eager for Work - London dockers queuing for employment c. 1900.
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Eager for Work" - London dockers queuing for employment c. 1900.
* Moving Here catalogue reference (MOL) LIB5333/MH4
The barrier chain at the dock gates was there 'to keep back the throng of applicants for work - the "ticket men" (more or less regular employees, known to the Dock officials, although engaged by the hour only and divided into two grades designated B and C class), and the casuals - strangers of no status at all who are engaged by the hour when there is more work than can be done by the "Royals" (as the permanent hands are called) and the ticket men'.

London's skilled dock workers - *stevedores - were dominated by the Irish whose positions were often passed down to their sons. Patrick Hennessey, an Irish trades unionist, established the Amalgamated Stevedores Union in 1871. However, many others were casuals with no certainty of regular employment.

Paddy enjoys more than his proportional share of dock work with its privileges and its miseries. He is to be found especially among the irregular hands, disliking as a rule the 'six to six' business for six days of the week. The cockney-born Irishman, as distinguished from the immigrant, is not favourably looked upon by the majority of employers.

Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People in London (1889-1903, First Series: Poverty, vol. IV, 16-22. Conditions were hard and, for many, employment uncertain.

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Creators: Aidan Lawes

 
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