The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

by Marc Levinson

The largest of the Pacific ship lines, Matson, was facing a financial squeeze, and it persuaded the others that it was time for “a new look” in labor-management relations. The companies agreed to leave the work rules alone, in return for a contract clause allowing stevedores to use new devices and methods so long as individual workers did not face speedups. Innovation would no longer automatically trigger a strike. If a gang thought it was being asked to perform dangerous or excessive tasks, a union representative and a supervisor would try to work things out while unloading or loading continued; if no settlement could be reached at the job site, the dispute would move quickly to higher levels and, if needed, to binding arbitration. These provisions created a new openness, with the union frequently bending the rules to permit new equipment and smaller gangs so long as workers received a portion of the savings.