The 1975-1978 Maritime Composite Agreement

Abstract

In 1975, the maritime employers and unions negotiated a composite maritime agreement. By 1978 however, and despite the goodwill that had gone into its negotiation, the agreement had disintegrated. Although this disintegration has been attributed to the failure to negotiate satisfactory wage relativities, this explanation is seen as inadequate. This article intends to show that the problem of wage relativities, rather than being a cause of this disintegration, was in fact only a sympton of a more serious underlying problem.