Full name | Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union |
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Founded | 1889 |
Date dissolved | 1922 |
Merged into | Transport and General Workers' Union |
Affiliation | National Transport Workers Federation |
Country | United Kingdom |
The Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers Union (1889–1922) was a British trade union. It emerged in response to the outbreak of the London Dock Strike in 1889 and rapidly became the principal union for dockworkers in London, Bristol, Cardiff, and other ports in the south and south-west. In South Wales it attracted a large following amongst metal-workers. It was one of the prominent New Unions of unskilled workers that emerged in the late 1880s.
The union was renamed the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1899 and was often called the Dockers' Union. It was a constituent of the National Transport Workers' Federation and a founder member of the Transport and General Workers Union in 1922. Its General Secretary was Ben Tillett. Ernest Bevin was a prominent official from 1910 onwards.
The union published the Dockers' Record as a monthly report of their activities.