The research by Professor Lindop comprised two linked projects funded by the ESRC in 1981 and 1983-5. The first project was concerned with the ideas and activities of shop stewards and other trade union activists in the dock industry and their relations with official trade unions, employers, Government and political organisations, especially the Communist Party. The 1972 campaign against container depots and unregistered ports was used as a focus. The second phase was a more general and comparative investigation of trade unionism in the ports of London, Liverpool, Birkenhead and Hull, 1945-67, but with an emphasis on the development of the workplace and unofficial organisation. Particular attention was given to obtaining full accounts of the informal practices of the labour market and to the different attitudes to piecework.
This material consists of cassette recordings of individual and group interviews with some transcriptions. The majority of the recordings (69 cassettes with 36 transcripts) relate to research into the ideas and activities of trade union activists and their relations with employers, the government and the Communist Party. The 1972 campaign against container depots and unregistered ports was used as the focus. The remainder of the recordings (47 cassettes with 27 transcripts) relate to to a comparative investigation of trade unionism in the ports of London, Liverpool, Birkenhead and Hull, 1945-1967, with an emphasis on the development of the workplace and unofficial organisation.