From: wdrb-AT-siva.bris.ac.uk Date: Mon, 23 Dec 1996 09:10:33 GMT Subject: M-I: Liverpool dockers reject latest final offer Please copy the following to all relevant lists and interested parties: Will Brown Bristol Liverpool dockers reject "ultimate offer" A packed mass meeting of Liverpool dockers on Friday 20 December voted overwhelmingly to reject the "ultimate offer" from Mersey Docks and continue their fight for reinstatement. All eyes are now on the world strike, just one month away. Dockers had spent all week reading and considering the details, negotiated in a 6 hour meeting last Monday between the company, union officials, and shop stewards. The package, restricted to the 329 men formerly employed by MDHC or Coastal Containers, entailed: * "in the region of 40 jobs (which) might be provided" in ancillary areas: Grain Terminal, Floating Plant, Boatmen, Docks & Stages, Seaboard Environmental Services. * No cargo handling vacancies are currently on offer but a register of former dockers could be created which would guarantee an interview for any future vacancy arising. * a fixed term UKp3,000 contract for all 329 men, giving 12 weeks reinstatement without reporting for work, to allow recruitment for the 40 jobs and a joint company-union approach to pension fund trustees re continuity. * Men who do not seek or gain re-employment will then be made redundant and given UKp25,000 severance. * The severance payment to constitute "full and final settlement of all claims" except industrial injury. * The offer to be conditional on a secret ballot to be conducted by 31st December. * "If the offer is rejected, no further offer will be made and the opportunities for jobs and severance payments will be lost for good." * UKp2,000 ex-gratia payment for former employees of Nelson Stevedoring. * No reference to former Torside employees. To encourage the freest possible debate, supporters and the media were excluded from the mass meeting while TGWU Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams and Regional Secretary Dave McCall attended as invited guests. All were urged to speak their minds, whether for or against. In a 90 minute discussion, docker after docker rose to attack the offer and the union's refusal to come out fighting while scabs continue to do the work of TGWU members. They spoke of issues of principle - respect for a picket line, solidarity with Torside and each other, their children's future, what their fathers had fought for, how they will be remembered - and the tide of public opinion now willing them to win. Jimmy Davies reported that donations were pouring in after the Ken Loach documentary "The Flickering Flame" was televised Wednesday night. A highly placed businessman who warned last year the dockers had no chance, rang Davies after the programme to say his contacts in the shipping industry reckon Mersey Docks have no idea what they're doing and the dockers should stay solid! In the end, there were two votes, both overwhelming with less than 15 opposed. First the offer was rejected. Then the men voted to dispense with a postal ballot. The stewards asked Jack Adams to report these decisions to TGWU General Secretary Bill Morris and urge him to respect the dockers' views. They further call on Morris to endorse the International Transportworkers Federation (ITF) call for support for the international Day of Action next month. Speaking after the mass meeting, the leader of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce told the BBC he deplored the dispute's high profile and urged both sides to seek a realistic settlement. So much for the "ultimate offer"! LabourNet report by Greg Dropkin http://www.labournet.org.uk More info: chrisbailey-AT-gn.apc.org --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005