Issuing Demands and Threats and Striking Deals

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart () and Michael Quinlan ()
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Hamish Maxwell-Stewart: University of New England
Michael Quinlan: UNSW Sydney

Chapter Chapter 6 in Unfree Workers, 2022, pp 129-159 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter explores a hitherto unconsidered aspect of collective action by convict workers, tacit bargaining and the issue of demands often backed by threats. This activity was extensive and covered a wide range of issues including the provision of wages, allowances, rest-breaks or shortened hours of work and better rations. Surviving court records describe instances where masters challenged practices that convicts considered customary. The chapter argues that most masters conceded to the demands of their unfree workers in the interests of preserving labour relations. For their part, convicts preferred such tacit negotiations to the ‘official channel’ of lodging a formal complaint before a magistrate, as attempts to prosecute masters were rarely successful and usually resulted in reprisals.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-981-16-7558-4_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-7558-4_6

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