DRIVERS’ STRIKE IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25081, 13 January 1947, Page 7

DRIVERS’ STRIKE IN BRITAIN

Possibility Of Spread To Dockers (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) Rec. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, January 11. drived on'strike’in re P reS / nting the 20 > 000 truck drivers on stiiKe in Britain issued, after a five-hour meeting a statement saying that the strike would continue that they had the backing of otherworkers shoulUhe Gov® X mettt bFeak SWke by the -of and market workers will strike in sympathy if troops are used. The Southern Area Port Workers’ Defence Committee passed a resolution calling on all dockers in ports between London and Bristol to refuse to handle goods carried by road transport. J A member of the committee said: “We"shall soon be

The Port Workers’ Defence Committee, which is an unofficial body, was set up after the dock strike of 1945 to watch the interests of dockers as a whole. Londoners queued up early to-day outside local shops to get their share of the meagre supplies of meat, potatoes, and other week-end provisions. Meanwhile 18,000 transport strikers have completed their plans to extend the strike if troops are called in on Monday. Even city men, dressed in black coats and pinstripe trousers and carrying rolled umbrellas, caught early trains and queued in the shadow of the great banking houses for sausages. The strikers agreed to allow volunteer drivers to take consignments of meat from the Smithfield Market to two hospitals which normally" deal direct with the market. The general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, Mr Arthur Deakin, will address a mass conference of delegates to-morrow, and call on the men to go back to work, but the strikers say they will not return until their demands are satisfied. The Ministry of Labour stated that in view of Mr Deakin’s decision to address the meeting to-morrow, troops

be used to distribute food on Monday until the strike position is clear. ■Die Transport and General Workers Union announced that Mr Deakin, who will address the London transport strikers, will tell them that the union supports the claim for an improvement in the present unsatisfactory conditions of work, and will ask then for immediate resumption to clear the way for a settlement. The central strike committee, after a long meeting, in a statement said that it viewed the proposal to use troops with concern, but pledged that they would not attempt to “frustrate” service personnel. The strikers gave permission for the operation of emergency services to hospitals and to other necessitous cases. . Nearly all London butchers were sold out by last Friday night. Many people were unable to buy meat for the week-end. Other foods are scarce, and cigarettes are almost unobtainable. Long queues sought “points” food, which many shops quickly cleared. Mr R. W. Sewill, director of the Road Haulage Association, said that volunteers had inundated the association with offers of help to distribute food.