Date: Tue, 8 Jul 1997 22:26:07 +0200
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: M-G: Dockers defeat TGWU Executive!!


This is from LabourNet and shows the impact the Liverpool Dockers' struggle
is having on the union membership in Britain. Dissatisfaction has grown so
great with treacherous union leadership that the delegates to the Transport
and General Conference (this isn't the rank and file!) voted down their
executive on the question of how to handle the Liverpool strike. The
bureaucrats have resorted to formal manoeuvres in hopes of saving face, but
we'll see how well they do on that.

Cheers,

Hugh

_____________________________________________


The 75th Anniversary conference of Britain's biggest industrial union, the
T&GWU, erupted in chaos at the end of its opening day as an Executive
Statement on the Liverpool docks dispute was clearly and decisively
defeated by Conference on a show of hands.
The Executive immediately ended the day's session, and after several
minutes of wild uncertainty the Chair announced that "due to the close
vote" a card vote would be taken first thing Tuesday morning.
200 Liverpool dockers and Women of the Waterfront are due to return home
tonight after an all night journey to attend the Brighton conference.
The Executive Statement, opposed by a stream of speakers who took the
rostrum during a lengthy debate, would remove 9 properly submitted formal
motions from the Conference agenda and replace them with an endorsement of
the union leadership's strategy and handling of the dispute, and an attack
on media coverage which has criticised the union.
The Executive's defeat came as a surprise to the dockers and a testimony to
the impact their 23 month fightback has had within their own union.
Speaker after speaker insisted that the dockers had been right to refuse to
cross their sons' picket line despite the trade union legislation, and that
the Executive must withdraw their Statement so that a strategy for winning
the dispute could now be discussed and voted on.
Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams introduced the Statement which stresses
the Executive's responsibility to "preserve the fabric of the Union and
operate within the constraints of the law". He outlined and defended the
intricate negotiating history of the dispute, but also spuriously claimed
that the dockers had demanded the TUC call a General Strike, a strategy
never endorsed by the dockers themselves as was made abundantly clear from
the gallery and by subsequent speakers.
Against Adams, Jimmy Nolan and Bobby Morton outlined their demands for a
Governement Inquiry into Mersey Docks and the need for the TGWU to work
with the ITF to impose an effective boycott on trade with the Port of
Liverpool.
These points had been put to delegates through leaflets and the latest
edition of the Dockers Charter, distributed this morning while dockers held
placards reading "democracy and debate are not disloyalty", "Dockers Built
this Union", "Scabs Out, Not Sell Out!", "Will the TGWU recruit the
scabs?", "Jim Larkin's Fighting Spirit Lives On in Liverpool"...
Before opposing the Executive Statement, Morton had earlier reminded
delegates that the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Suffragettes, and Nelson Mandela
had all been forced to break the law to achieve their just demands.
Bill Morris, in that earlier debate, had criticised any implied comparison
of Mersey Docks with the apartheid regime. But now a black delegate from
London Region rose to endorse the dockers defiance, stressing that the ANC
had faced legal constraints and had chosen to break through them.
Belfast dockers, lorry drivers, the convenor of the Rover Cowley plant, the
leader of the Civil Aviation Transport section at London Heathrow, and many
other speakers rallied to the dockers cause and demanded that the Executive
withdraw their divisive statement which sought to prevent a proper debate.
In the end, Bill Morris' measured appeal for unity and a course of action
within the law was voted down by a large and visible majority. Yet no
sooner had the cheering Gallery and their supporters on the floor of
Conference realised their victory than it was snatched away by a unilateral
suspension of business and the platform's decision to hold a card vote in
the morning.
Away from the Conference floor, key facts about the union's current stance
and its relationship with the ITF (International Transportworkers
Federation) are emerging.
On Friday, the KPMG report was revealed to stewards without their being
handed a copy. It foresees 28 jobs in General Cargo, and a further 50
possible jobs when a new River Berth is constructed in 18 months.
Bill Morris told stewards the union would not contact the ITF on the docks
issue unless the ITF approached them first on this subject.
Today ITF General Secretary David Cockroft, in Brighton at the invitation
of the TGWU to discuss potential action against British Airways in the
event of sackings at BA, told dockers he could not even issue a letter to
affiliated dockers unions because the TGWU will not ask the ITF to do
anything regarding the Liverpool dispute.
Tonight the fate of the Liverpool dockers status within the union remains
poised.

LabourNet Report

http://www.labournet,org.uk




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