P.M. and T.U.C. to meet

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32977, 25 July 1972, Page 1

P.M. and T.U.C. to meet

CA'.Z.P. A.-Reuter — Copyright) LONDON, July 24. The Prime Minister (Mr Heath) and British trade union leaders are expected to meet today to discuss the deepening industrial crisis arising from the imprisonment of five dockers.

The unions requested the meeting last night amid grim predictions of widespread strikes in sympathy with the five dockers’ leaders imprisoned for flouting an industrial court order to cease boycotting container traffic.

More than half Britain’s 42,000-strong dock labour force stopped work on Friday and observers expected the unofficial strike to extend to virtually all ports today.

Miners in South Wales, Midlands car workers and 10,000 Liverpool-based lorry drivers were also reported to be considering calling protest strikes.

Newspaper printers in London have already stopped work and today millions of Britons went without national newspapers for the third successive day.

Mr Heath — facing the most serious industrial crisis since he became Prime Minister two years ago—will be

asked by the trade unions to review the Government’s controversial new labour laws.

ELECTION PLEDGE A statement issued by the 10 million strong Trades Union Congress said that the review was necessary to avoid “further damage to industrial relations and the country’s economic health.”

But observers doubted whether the Government would be prepared to yield immediately. A pledge to introduce the labour laws was a cornerstone of the Conservative’s election manifesto.

Mr Maurice MacMillan, the Minister for Employment. said yesterday he did not pretend that the laws were perfect. With furthet experience he would be willing to consider changes. Mr V. Feather, the T.U.C. general-secretary, denounced the legislation as the biggest menace to industrial peace. He said he was angry and could not understand why expert advice was rejected and that of “stupid political lawyers” accepted.

Trade unionists and Labour politicians are insisting that the new labour laws must be repealed before organised labour can co-operate on voluntary wage curbs. CONTEMPT OF COURT The five dockers’ leaders were ordered to gaol last Friday in a precedent-setting case for contempt of court in persistently picketing new container depots where simplified cargo-handling methods have been introduced.

The men, who regard these methods as threatening the jobs of dock workers, had defied the National Industrial Relations Court, set up under the new legislation. Today they were still be ing held in London’s Pentonville Gaol while other dockers kept vigil outside. Foreign opinion is concerned about inflationary pressures and industrial unrest at a time when Britain’s floating pound is under pressure in world money markets.