The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting against financial hardships and poor working conditions. Thousands more refused to handle "scab" goods. The dispute was sometimes referred to as the waterfront lockout or waterfront strike. It lasted 151 days, from 13 February to 15 July 1951. During the strike, the Watersiders' Union was deregistered and its funds and records were seized, and 26 local watersiders' unions were set up in its place. In reviewing the biography of Jock Barnes, then-president of the Waterside Workers' Union, reviewer Tony Simpson described the lockout as "a key element in the mythologies of the industrial left in this country". Background The distance of New Zealand and Australia from their traditional markets, meant that ports played a pivotal role in the economies of the countries. The waterfront inevitably became a point of conflict between workers and their unions on one side, and the employers and the state on the other. During the Second World War due to labour shortages, watersiders and other workers worked long hours, often as much as 15-hour days. However, in working American ships, the waterside workers had also been exposed to new work methods and technologies that were commonplace on American wharves. British shipowners were reluctant to invest in these new methods and expected watersiders to go back to the traditional methods in use before the war. But the union resolved that work practices needed to change. Following the war, on the wharves working hours continued to be high, with shipowners expecting up to 59 hours a week be worked. In the immediate post-war period, one of main the goals of the Waterside Workers' Union was to have a guaranteed weekly wage and a 40-hour, five day, work week between the hours of 8am and 5pm, without night or weekend overtime. Dissatisfaction with the Waterfront Industry Commission's refusal to accept the watersiders' proposal lead to ongoing waterfront disputes over several year. The Waterside Workers' Union struggle lead to criticism from the Federation of Labour (FOL) that the union's actions might not be in the best interests of it members and posed a risk to the whole labour movement. At the November 1949 general elections, a conservative National party government came to power. While the