Resumen

DOMINGUEZ-CABRERA, David. "De aquí la necesidad de un gremio, la necesidad de una tarifa". Port Conflicts and Labour Rights in Havana Bay (1901-1918). Historelo.rev.hist.reg.local [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.33, pp.145-181.  Epub 01-Mayo-2023. ISSN 2145-132X.

During the first two decades of the republic, port trade unions demanded the restoration of the tariffs that governed the transport of goods in the Havana (1901) and Cienfuegos (1902) harbours. This paper explores how the reinstatement of a "labour law", which was recognised as "usurped" by the shipping companies and trading houses - mostly made up of foreign capital - represented the unifying axis and the discursive core of the port labour agency in Havana Bay. In this vein, an analytical approach from below is used, in which documentation originating from port workers, the press of the time, and official sources from the Cuban government and US diplomacy are interwoven with the aim of reconstructing the political discourse of port trade unionisation, as well as the basis on which it articulated its legalistic position in pursuit of reinstating the 1901 tariffs. The approval of a regulation governing port work and establishing new rates for loading/unloading operations in the port of Havana at the end of 1918 constituted a turning point in the series of strikes which, from the beginning of the 20th century, were based on a discursive repertoire around the labour rights of port workers.

Palabras clave : port tariffs; labour law; trade unions; strategic position; Cuban state; port conflicts.

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