Stevedores

The modernization of the port, begun in 1888 by Gafrée, Guinle & Cia and continued by Companhia Docas de Santos, transformed the dynamic of the port operations. At the old port, the ships could not dock and their connection with the port was conducted by pontoons or boats which brought passengers and merchandise ashore. A crew of coffee loaders transported the merchandise from the wharf to the ships, unloading it in the ship’s hold where a crew of stevedores arranged them requiring a large number of dock workers.

Construction of the dock from stone enabled ships to dock eliminating the need for these boats and pontoons. The use of cranes and conveyor belts also made the transportation of large quantities of cargo possible directly from the port warehouses to the ships which coupled with its own internal train system for the internal transportation of merchandise reduced the number of workers required. Moreover, Docas sought to control all cargo movement at its ports by using its dock workers under a work contract regime and compensation that was not piecemeal.

The cargo loading or removal of cargo from the deck or hold of the ship was the work of the stevedores. Succeeding the Association of the Santos Stevedores, founded in 1919 and closed in 1926, the Santos Stevedores Union was founded in 1930. In the 1940s the stevedores finalized a closed shop, which system is recognized in ports throughout the world, where the autonomous stevedores must be associated with a union to perform their work. This was viewed as providing independence of workers in this category, assuring greater organization and participation of the stevedores in their job market.

The stevedores meet daily at the so-called “walls” where work offers are tendered and they are hired by the master stevedores. In general crews were made up (groups of 10 to 12 men) to work in the ships’ holds, there were some times more than one crew per hold, earning based on production.

Therefore, on these ships, which were not so reputable, there were scabs that worked the cranes from land to load the coffee since there was little space and a narrow opening. There below where they picked up the coffee, there was a huge area. Then there was that business with the coffee and the people filled it making a kind of table, anchored there with hooks and as it was hooked up it and knocked down, but it couldn’t be lifted very much because otherwise the center filled up and it could sink? So then it was really hard work to load. It’s not that the coffee was bad but everyone whined about getting that assignment owed to the space differences in the hold. The hold was enormous and had a small opening and the cargo that had to be loaded was in those huge immovable cantons.

Manoel Gomes Ornelas has worked as a stevedore since the 1960s where he often worked with coffee shipments. Testimonial given at the Museu do Café in 2012.

The pay used to be everything — it was done in a bar, a kind of a dive. It was all done in the bar. We worked and that’s how it was, we worked today and the next day got paid. That’s how it was. We worked on Wednesday and on Thursday we got paid in the bar. Four o’ clock in the afternoon the payment was already at the bar. The payroll guy from the company called us there with the payment; the foreman called. The foreman, such and such ship of such and such hold. It called the general manager who was responsible. First the general manager called who introduced himself. Then the foremen of hold one, two, three, four etc. were called depending on the case. Then they started handing out those envelopes with the money. We checked it then and there and signed that we had received it. Then the foreman began making the payment to each worker who showed up there with their workbook and number in hand, because it was by number. Even today it’s done by number. By the number of— today it is the OGMO registration number and continues today by the OGMO number. It used to be the DTM, which was the number of the Maritime Workers Office and then it changed to the OGMO registration. When it was by the Port Authority, it was the DTM. The foreman delivered that payment and stuff. It was a family, a party and get together. The owner of the bar was the one who liked it; he was the one who made out like a bandit, right? (...) At each point of the work, distribution, each “wall” was at his bar – payment was made there at that bar. As for example, here in this sector where we are at the Coffee Exchange. There is a bar behind here, but I can’t remember the owner's name. I call it by the name of the bar's owner, who was named --- the Bar of Four was right here. It was here at the Bar of Four. Right there was the main focus. A lot of times since there were a lot of people there some Foreman called his people and then went to the neighboring bar to make payment. You know because there were too many people there; it was only a bar.

José Lopes Cunha has worked as a stevedore since 1966, where he was contracted for many coffee shipments. Testimonial given to the Museu do Café in 2011.

Work distribution was at the Union. The Union was the one that distributed the work crews to the ships Then, that way the distribution according to the following: there were “Exchange,” “Advanced,” and “Double.” Then the director of the job is the one who got the work from the clerk. The clerk wrote down the work of a certain ship. Then the director went to the stevedore wall, what we called the “wall,” right? He came to the stevedore wall. Then the director, who had that paper in his hands that had a description of the work on the ship, picked the workers, right? So the best work – coffee was one of the best jobs because the pay was good, you know? That was the exchange. Exchange and afterward those who didn’t want to work or if there weren’t any more exchanges would go to advanced, which was the next position. So we have advanced. After that there was double. That way – there was double the point, the double of the “neighbor.” There was the exchange of the neighbor, the advanced of the neighbor, and the double of the neighbor. That is... the neighbor was the crew that came before and the crew that came afterward. And after that there was general exchange, general advanced and advanced double. And the partner of the job was the foreman's company or punishment. So, the guy that was the foreman during the day, he could, if he wasn’t working, he could pick up work as a worker of the partner for the job. He wasn’t part of the assignment of the exchange, advanced and double. And the retirees – who till today, there are still retirees who... work.
Q - Work.
And who are still there working. That's how distribution was done. So, the distribution was that way. For example, a coffee crew. A coffee crew worked with a dozen men. Therefore, the 12 men, there was a foreman took these 12 men from the “wall.” - removing these 12 men from the wall. Then there were four that operated on the deck, up above, that were two that were hoisters and two carriers. The other eight men worked below to grab the bags. The ones above conducted the mesh bags, which on the docks, the land, right, and the coffee bags were in mesh bags that we called a lingada. The belts or straps that were there could hold up to 1,800 kilos. So a base of 30 bags would go into the mesh bags. When the crane could lift more, it picked up two. So, 60 bags would go in each mesh bag. Then these men above were the ones who transported it to the hold. And the eight men below were the ones who stevedored the bags – that's why they are called stevedores, right? They would haul the bags of coffee and arrange them in the hold of the ship. This was the distribution of the crews, you know? But when there was a shipment that worked with dock cranes, that was a land crane, then they didn’t select 12 men, maybe 10 because there was no need for the haulers, right? We only used two carriers and the eight men down below.

José Lopes Cunha has worked as a stevedore since 1966, where he was contracted for many coffee shipments. Testimonial given to the Museu do Café in 2011.

More or less until the years 1980, 85, 86, I remember that they still worked a lot with coffee bags. There were many, many bags of coffee. From then on coffee began to be shipped in containers – inside the containers. So then the need for labor decreased a lot. I, at least was one of the ones who suffered from this because I used to like hauling coffee bags. Even though it was shipped in containers, there were a lot of loose, bagged and mesh bagged coffee or coffee in cantons. Even so, there was still a lot.

José Lopes Cunha has worked as a stevedore since 1966, where he was contracted for many coffee shipments. Testimonial given to the Museu do Café in 2011.