Strikes! African seamen, elder dempster and the government 1940–42

There were three strikes in Liverpool by African seamen working for Elder Dempster during the early years of the Second World War. Through the investigation of the 1940 strikers’ complaints it became evident that Elder Dempster had a four‐tier wage scale: at the bottom were Nigerians recruited in Nigeria; then Africans recruited in Freetown; third were Africans employed from Liverpool and at the top were European seamen, who were paid the National Maritime Board rates. All the government departments concerned as well as the National Union of Seamen had consented to the company's discriminatory wage policy.