Dockers defy Tebbit
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-04-28Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 14 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 14
LAST Thursday, 21st, 2300 Tilbury dockers voted two to one to stay out and meet again in two weeks' time.
• Over the six weeks of this official dispute, the strikers have resisted threats by the Port of London Authority that it will declare itself bankrupt and/or declare huge redundancies, and moves by TGWU officials (following secret talks with the employers) to get the issue shunted into ACAS.
At one point their own stewards recommended a return to work, and it was voted down.
They have also picketed back out the riverside dockers, who initially struck in solidarity and then voted narrowly to return after a TGWU full-timer told them that their action could not be made official because of the Tory union laws.
Parity
The dockers' demand is for pay parity with office staff. In Hull and Southampton parity is the rule, but in London dockers get a basic of £106 as against the lowest grade clerks' £134. The strike was sparked when the dockers were offered a pay rise of only £4 this year.
Widespread blacking has made the strike effective, and shipping companies are putting pressure for a settlement.
The employers have offered £l more on basic pay, increased holiday pay, and a promise of 'wage comparability' in 1985 -but since that was rejecied, they say they can afford no more.
Donations: George Lake, TGWU office, Calcutta Road, Tilbury, Eşsex.