‘Dan de beuk erin...'

Acties tegen bedrijfssluiting en massaontslag in de Nederlandse scheepsbouw, 1976-1985

Abstract

‘… and then: go for it!’

Actions against company closures and mass redundancies in Dutch shipbuilding, 1976-1985

In this article, the fight against closures and redundancies in Dutch shipbuilding in the 1970s and 1980s is analyzed as a case of the struggle against de-industrialization and the demise of Fordist labor relations more generally. The article highlights the combativeness of the shipbuilding workers in an overview of different types of actions, among which occupations of several yards stand out. I argue that this combativeness can be explained by a ‘moral economy’, grounded in the so-called Fordist class compromise, which dominated postwar industrial relations, also in shipbuilding. This had raised expectations about stable and relatively well-paid work, that were brutally disturbed by the closure of the yards. The combativeness of the workers in these employment struggles continued a tradition of both wildcat and trade union activism in Dutch shipbuilding since the early 1960s.