Maritime Labour Regimes in the Neoliberal Era

Liam Campling () and Alejandro Colás
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Liam Campling: Queen Mary University of London and Birkbeck, University of London
Alejandro Colás: Queen Mary University of London and Birkbeck, University of London

Development, 2023, vol. 66, issue 1, 65-75

Abstract: Abstract In the structured space of the boat as a place of work and life, maritime labour regimes can be shaped by individual workers as well as the personalities and practices of captains; the technical specifications of the workspace such as a ship’s design; and the broader institutions that simultaneously connect multiple places of work such as (non-)regulation by flag states. An ocean-going ship is not simply a vessel of exchange; it is also a site of work and production. Workers shape labour regimes through past class antagonisms and their compromises which may become codified in national and international law and forms of private ordering; in local historical cultures of labour organizing of greater or weaker militancy; and in contemporaneous struggles, whether in the form of direct resistance, indirect resilience or reworking. This article examines maritime labour regimes in the neoliberal era and seeks to explore a number of questions, including what is specific to the calculus of exploitation, risk and labour-time at sea? How do the geophysical characteristics of the sea shape labour regimes on ocean-going vessels? Have the working lives of those toiling at sea changed since the inception of mercantile capitalism?

Keywords: Seafarers; Blue economy; Shipping; Industrial capitalism; Trade unions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1057/s41301-023-00369-0

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