Though little remarked upon, the dispute at Newport Docks in 1910 was hugely significant in the development of industrial relations and policing. The calculations a government makes when 'refereeing' between employers and employees changed dramatically, and the state has been on a collision course with workers' rights ever since.
The strike has been overshadowed by the disaster of 1909, and largely ignored in the history of working class struggle, possibly because workers were fighting for almost the opposite of the demands of the Cambrian Combine Strike. In the short term, the dockers were successful, but the lasting effects were far from positive.
