This article is from the Irish Anarchist Paper =
Workers Solidarity, No 51 Summer 1997 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2724/anpubdx.html
After one and a half years Liverpool dockers fight on
On September 25th 1995 the men who worked for Torside =
Shipping Company (a private contractor) were ordered to work =
for a disputed overtime rate. They refused. The following day all =
80 men were sacked. They mounted a picket and the Mersey =
dockers refused to pass it. The 329 men of Mersey Docks and =
Harbour Company were sacked. Within 24 hours their jobs were =
being advertised in the local press.
Since then precious little else has been seen in media about this =
strike which is now longer running than the miners' struggle in =
1984. Indeed it took Robbie Fowler to lift his football shirt and =
reveal a t-shirt supporting the dockers during a European football =
game, and a minor riot in London, for the dispute to gain access =
to the headlines again.
In September 1995 the dockers of Liverpool had handled the =
highest tonnages ever recorded in that port. Since 1989, the =
European Regional Development Fund has paid over =A313 =
million to Mersey Docks to create employment. The irony is that =
all they've succeeded in doing is locking 400 men out of work. =
Yet the Managing Director of Mersey Docks pocketed an =A387,000 =
pay rise just prior to kicking 329 men onto the dole.
The dockers are members of the Transport and General Workers =
Union, which has refused to make the dispute official because the =
dockers' actions were against the law (the stringent laws brought =
in by Thatcher to strangle the remaining power out of the right to =
strike). As John Magginnis, who has worked on the docks since =
1951, put it "We worked in dirty, unhealthy, dangerous =
conditions.
But if the men had a grievance and sent for a delegate (trade =
union representative), he would walk round the sheds, straight =
into the office, come out, walk past the men without saying a =
word and you would find out later that nothing had changed. A =
case of "My hands are tied. What can I do?"
The striking dockers were offered =A325,000 redundancy and 40 jobs =
as a settlement offer. It was rejected. As Jimmy Campbell said, =
"Our fathers and grand-fathers fought and died for jobs we could =
be proud of, I did it for the young ones."
The strike has gone on to bring forth an international show of =
solidarity with the struggle of these men to hold onto their jobs =
in an age of increasing globalisation and rationalisation. The =
international support has been nothing short of phenomenal.
On January the 20th an inter-national day of action took place =
around the world for the dockers. In Liverpool eight dockers and =
seven environmentalists occupied three cranes at the grain =
terminal and thus prevented the unloading of the "Lake Erie" =
which was delayed for a total of 35 hours. The activists were =
arrested and charged with aggravated trespass.
Actions occurred in Australia, New Zealand, Japan,the United =
States, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Quebec, Sweden, Norway, Russia, =
Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland and =
Greece. These actions ranged from union meetings during =
working hours to stoppages to occupations, and even a general =
strike of transport workers. On the west coast of the United States, =
the Los Angeles Times reported:
"Pacific rim trade spluttered to a halt and dozens of mammoth =
cargo ships sat idle in their ports on Monday as union dock =
workers from Los Angeles to Seattle stayed off the job in a one =
day show of support for the striking longshoremen in Liverpool, =
England....." One vice president of a shipping company =
complained that "This is going to cost us millions of dollars in =
delays.'
What the workers throughout the world who have heard of this =
strike realise is that it is not an isolated issue. At stake here are =
the 400 jobs in Liverpool, but these men are also fighting for the =
right to decent pay and proper working conditions. For many =
years, dock work was some of the most brutal work, and was =
conducted in the uncertain air of casualisation.
Now the bosses are trying to return to this time and the workers =
are resisting. This tactic of the bosses is not confined to one port =
or one workplace but it is rearing it's ugly head in practically all =
places where people gather to work. It has to be fought before we =
all end up working on weekly contracts with no rights or =
privileges.
Despite the widespread international actions, the media in =
Britain have kept this long-running dispute almost completely =
out of the news. Marchers took to the streets of London on April =
12th to focus the attention of the public and the politicians on the =
Liverpool dockers. The Social Justice March attracted 15,000 =
marchers and over 1,000 riot police who did not hesitate to smash =
them off the streets.
The march was divided into two parts by a police charge on =
horseback. Some protesters managed to get into the Foreign =
Office and scattered papers from an upstairs window. As usual =
the media stepped in to cover the story in their usual biased way, =
not covering the reasons for the events and turning a blind eye to =
the police brutality.
Now, once again the story has sunk into oblivion. The situation =
is not going to change with a change in government, as the =
Labour Party spokesperson on Industry considers the strike to be =
an "industrial issue" and not a political one, so he refuses to =
comment.
The workers who have shown their solidarity throughout the =
world know different. Nothing is more political than the right to =
work for decent pay and in decent conditions. They know that =
right had to be fought for in the past and now that battle is being =
fought again in Liverpool. Coming to a workplace near you. Fight =
on.
Dermot Sreenan
------------------------------------------------ This article is from the Irish Anarchist Paper =
Workers Solidarity, No 51 Summer 1997
The whole issue and previous issues can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2724/anpubdx.html
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