MILITANT DOCKERS FACE PUNISHMENT

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33001, 22 August 1972, Page 17

MILITANT DOCKERS FACE PUNISHMENT

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, August 21. Britons looked forward to normal food supplies, and a resumption of overseas trade, this morning as 42,000 dockers returned to their jobs after a nation-wide strike lasting three weeks.

The cost of the strike has been estimated by a spokesman for the National Association of Port Employers at £lOOO million. A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry has said that it will be impossible to put an accurate costfigure to the strike until mid-September, when the overseas trade statistics for August are published.

The last British port to vote in favour of resuming work was Liverpool, where a meeting of 6000 dockers decided overwhelmingly yesterday that they had had enough of idleness.

As work resumed today, the dockers faced a backlog of ships which have been waiting for unloading since the stoppage began. It is expected that it will be the end of the week before supplies of all foods are back to normal. There have been shortages of some fruit and vegetables, and the prices of meat have risen. The militants who tried to prolong the stoppage have been severely censured by

their union leader, and threatened with disciplinary action.

Mr Jack Jones, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, said last night that those dockers who physically attacked delegates and union officials at the meeting, last Wednesday, that brought an end to the strike, would be dealt with through the machinery of the union. Ugly incidents took place after the dockers’ delegates

had decided, by 53 votes to 30, to end the crippling stoppage. Some of the delegates were kicked and punched by militants who wanted the strike to continue.

“Such people are not entitled to be members of any trade union,” Mr Jones said.

“It was perhaps the biggest shock I have ever had to find people being encouraged to attack, not just me personally—-I don’t mind that —but the ordinary lay delegates. It was revolting, disgusting. Some of those people will live with that cowardice for the rest of their lives.”

Men found guilty by the union of misconduct face heavy fines, suspension, or even expulsion from the union.

The stoppage began when a docker’s delegate conference similar to that which ended the strike voted, 38-28, on July 26 against acceptance of proposals aimed at overcoming effects of the container revolution.

Since then, some guarantees have been secured of dockers obtaining work at inland depots, loading containers with cargo which used to be loaded piece by piece at the wharfside. The container revolution has reduced the over-all size of Britain’s dock force in recent years,