The union was founded in 1887 as the '''Tea Operatives and General Labourers' Association''', to organise opposition to a cut in wages for workers involved in unloading and processing tea at the
East and West India Dock Company's Cutler Street warehouse. From the start, it included other supportive workers, with secretary
Ben Tillett working at nearby Monument Quay Warehouse. Considered part of the
New Unionism movement, it grew rapidly, with 2,300 members by the end of 1888. The union was central to the
London dock strike of 1889, many of the participants in the strike joining the union immediately after the strike. By the end of the year, it had 30,932 members, and had been renamed as the "Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union", reflecting the broader base of its membership. However, most dock labourers working in the docks on the south bank of the
River Thames instead joined a new rival, the
South Side Labour Protection League, in protest at the degree of centralisation in the Dockers' Union, and its refusal to allow branch meetings to take place in pubs. The union was renamed the '''Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland''' in 1899. By this time, it had lost most of its members in London, but continued to grow as more workers joined elsewhere in the country. The union was a constituent of the
National Transport Workers' Federation and was keen to amalgamate with other similar unions.
Ernest Bevin became a prominent official in the union from 1910, and he initiated the merger process which formed the
Transport and General Workers' Union in 1922. The union published the ''Dockers' Record'' as a monthly report of its activities. ==Election results==