Waterfront Blues is the story of the dramatic events surrounding the labour battles at the Port of Montreal in the 1960s and 70s. During that time, the prospect - and reality - of technological change poisoned labour relations, provoking a series of bitter strikes as well as repeated exercises in government intervention. It was not until 1978 that management and labour were able to negotiate a collective agreement without a work stoppage or government intervention.

In this new study, Alexander Pathy probes deeply into the causes of this labour unrest and charts the efforts...