Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 19:12:08 +0100 From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se> Subject: M-TH: Liverpool dockers Here's a letter to the Liverpool dockers from the Swedish dockers that was posted on LabourNet http://www.gn.apc.org/labournet Nothing spectacular, just a complete refutation of everything James H and his kind have written about the impact and significance of the Liverpool dockers' strike for decent conditions and against a return to the barbarity of casualization and the hell of having to fight it out with your workmates every morning for the right to work for a pittance. Global is as global does. Cheers, Hugh _____________________________________ from: Swedish Dockworkers Union (Stockholm) to: Merseyside Port Shop Stewards and every sacked docker in Liverpool 30 October 1997 Dear Colleagues, We have taken note of your reports about the postal ballot being imposed on the sacked Liverpool dockers by the TGWU general secretary Bill Morris. The way this affair has been handled by Morris is truly the way of a very undemocratic union leader who is under very hard pressure. Of course one of the advantages about this whole sad procedure is that it will be impossible for anyone to claim your dispute to be "unofficial" - how can it be possible for a trade union organisation to have an official postal ballot about a conflict that is "unofficial"? The men who voted yes for the so called "final offer" cannot really be blamed since the pressure has been so hard on everyone during those 25 months that have passed since the beginning of this conflict. We rather like to hail the 213 men who voted "no", but also the men who voted "yes" but declared that they will continue to be part of your fight. Many encouraging things have happened lately - the "Neptune Jade" story, the decision of the Japanese dockers to boycott all goods to and from, not only Liverpool, but also the ports of Sheerness and Thamesport. It is also with great pleasure and pride that we take note of the news about actions being taken by Liverpool dockers and also Women of the Waterfront such as picketing the Port of Dublin and the Canada Dock in the Port of Liverpool on the arrival of the Royal Yacht Brittania. You all certainly show that you still are alive and kicking and not at all ready to give up. On the contrary we have the impression that you are more determined than ever and we also have the impression that there are a lot of things going in your favour at the moment. We are really proud to be a small part of your courageous fight and we realise that your conflict and its outcome has the greatest significance for dockers all over the world and not least here in Sweden. Therefore we in the Swedish Dockworkers Union are intensifying our fundraising campaign and we are discussing with the shipping company Sea-Link and the paperpulp manufacturer ASSIDoman about their use of the facilities in the Port of Sheerness telling them that they are risking to be involved in the Liverpool dispute. Yours in Solidarity SWEDISH DOCKWORKERS UNION Bjorn A. Borg VICTORY TO THE LIVERPOOL DOCKERS --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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