UNION APPEALS TO DOCKERS TO RESUME WORK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 5

UNION APPEALS TO DOCKERS TO RESUME WORK

(10.15 a.m.) LONDON. June 20. The Port of London dock trade group of the Transport and General Workers’ Union has called on the 15,000 London dockers who are striking as a protest against the punishment of 11 of their fellow workers to resume work tomorrow.

The group issued an announcement that the 11 men who were punished for refusing to load zinc oxide without “dirty cargo” pay had on four occasions acted contrary to existing agreements in the industry and had failed to state their case before their union committee. The group considered that they had committed a breach of the rules under the dock labour scheme and the penalty inflicted was not harsh. A dockers’ meeting at the dock gates yesterday unanimously decided to continue the strike. Mr. A. Deakin, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, speaking at Doncaster, renewed the appeal to London dockers to end the strike at once.

“If this unofficial stoppage continues it will be disastrous,” he said. Unofficial action was a luxury at any time. The present strike would cause a considerable loss of food, interrupt supplies and penalise fellow trade unionists. The Rangitata, which was one of the vessels involved in the London dock strike, sailed on Saturday and left behind 1500 tons of cargo.