Preferable Labourer's ticket

An identity card or ticket issued by the East & West India Dock Company to dock labourer Henry Stevens in September 1872. Stevens was employed as a 'Preferable Labourer' at the West India Docks from September 1872. Preferable Labourers were not part of the dock companies permanent establishment, but they were given preference when it came to recruiting casual workers on a day-to-day basis. Because dock work was so heavily dependant on casual employment, the possession of a Preferable labourer's ticket was very valuable. To keep it, Stevens was obliged to present himself for work every day, even though he might not be selected for the day. Even if he was taken on, at this time there was no guaranteed minimum day and he might be laid off within a few hours, or sent to another of the Company's docks to work.