On 14 December 1995 Bobby Moreton, Tony Nelson and Kevin Bilsborrow went to the US as representatives of the 500 sacked Liverpool dockers.
The delegation aimed to picket the docks at Baltimore, where the 36,000 tonne Atlantic Companion, owned by Atlantic Containers Limited (ACL) which had been loaded by scabs was due to dock.
Under US law the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) cannot organise a solidarity strike in support of the Liverpool dockers, but if a picket line is set up each worker has the right to decide individually whether or not to cross it.
The delegation's task was crucial because the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company (MDHC) can not afford to lose its contract with ACL, its biggest customer.
So concerned were MDHC directors to keep ACL using Liverpool that they have gambled thousands of pounds to transport scabs and shoulder the costs of the extra time needed without the skills of the sacked workforce.
The Liverpool dockers also gambled. They mounted their American picket in blizzards, just before Christmas, when the US longshoremen needed full wage packets for their families' festivities.
Workers' international solidarity prevailed!
Bobby Moreton kept this diary (bearing in mind anti-trade-union laws on both sides of the Atlantic!)
In the afternoon we were informed that the vessel would leave that evening for Norfolk, Virginia, to discharge and load containers. We made an instant decision to follow.
Within minutes ACL directors knew of our decision and offered the Baltimore dockers four times their normal rate of pay to unload the containers. They refused.
The ship sailed that evening. We drove down to Norfolk.
Saturday 16 December: At midnight we attempted to mount our picket line but unfortunately were met by a massive police presence, an attorney and port officials.
We were advised that under Virginia state law a picket could only be set up at a venue chosen by the port officials and representatives of the state. The attorney said that the chosen place was a small unused gate at the back of the terminal. We refused.
Tempers became frayed. The attorney and the police chief threatened us with jail and physical violence if we refused to move.
I conferred with the local ILA official and advised him that the three of us we were prepared to go to jail if it meant that the ship would not be worked.
He repeated over and over again that if the picket line was broken for any reason whatever then the vessel would be worked.
We decided that no cause would be served by continuing the confrontation. We withdrew the picket on the understanding that the longshoremen would operate a `go-slow' on the vessel.
Sunday 17 December: We took a bus back north to Baltimore. On our arrival, late in the evening, we heard that Atlantic Companion was sailing to Newark, New Jersey, to discharge and load containers beginning at 7.00 p.m. on Monday. We stayed the night in Baltimore.
Monday 18 December: We took a plane to Newark and mounted our picket line at 6.00 p.m. Suffice to say that not one longshoreman crossed the picket line.
Tuesday 19 December: The next shift started at 8.00 a.m. We mounted our picket line in a blizzard, which continued throughout the following days. ACL ordered three gangs and 30 extra men (85 in all) and, again, they refused to cross our picket. It was then a 24-hour picket with a shift system.
In the evening, when I returned to the hotel for a bit of sleep, I was served with papers by Louis Pachman, an attorney on behalf of the company. I was ordered to appear in the New Jersey state court at 1.30 p.m. the following afternoon.
Wednesday 20 December: At 6.00 a.m. I was about to leave the hotel. In the lobby was Pachman and the head of the New York Shipping Association, Jimmy Melia. They followed me down to the picket line.
During the course of the morning an ILA official, Al Sernadas, came to the picket and introduced himself. We told him our problem that we had no money, were not attuned to the US legal system, and needed representation. He advised us to contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU's legal director agreed to represent me in court. It was agreed that my attorney would argue that under the First Amendment I was allowed freedom of expresson on a public highway - and that the picket was set up on the public highway.
We were led to believe that Pachman's line would be to seek a restraining order, effectively to prevent picketing. However, in court he advised the judge that instead of seeking a restraining order that afternoon, he would seek an adjournment until the following afternoon.
The reason given was that just before the court session he had heard that negotiations were to take place the following morning, between ACL and the ILA, which had been asked to act as intermediaries on our behalf. (Obviously the company would not meet us, and our union, the Transport & General Workers' Union, does not exist in the US.)
The judge granted the adjournment, which meant that we could maintain our picket.
When the judge left the chamber Pachman asked my attorney, Marsha Wenk, whether he could speak to me. She replied that I was available to go to the witness stand while the court was in session, so why hadn't he taken advantage of that to speak to me?
He ignored this and addressed me anyway, saying: `You seemed upset when we served the papers, please understand that it is nothing personal.' Naturally I laughed contemptuously.
He lost his cool and said: `You are only smiling because you have stopped the ship!' Wenk said that I didn't have to reply. But I told him: `I'm a professional! I'm smiling because it's Christmas and I'm happy!' He could stick his liberalism up his ****.
Thursday 21 December: The picket was cancelled because ACL did not apply for labour while negotiations were taking place.
The negotiations started at 9.30a.m. There was a three-way telephone line ACL and ILA representatives on one, me on another in the ILA office, and, on the third, Jim Nolan, Jim Davies and strike committee members in Liverpool.
ACL offered to make a statement that the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company (MDHC) should sit down with the TGWU in an attempt to find an immediate solution to the problem and, if it is not settled by 15 January 1996, the ACL would switch to discharging and loading its vessels in another UK port.
The strike committee in Liverpool discussed the matter. We decided that it was in our best interests to lift our picket, as long as ACL committed itself in writing.
ACL said that putting their statement in `black and white' would be a problem. We said that, if they refused, they would have an even bigger problem when they applied for labour to discharge and load the vessel.
We then heard from the ILA representatives that they had a written statement. We received it within an hour. The deal was finally agreed on the basis that no action of any kind would be taken against any of us pickets or the TGWU.
During the course of the afternoon Bernard Cliff of the MDHC telephoned the ex- ecutive vice-president of ACL, Conrad Dezago. Cliff said he was highly critical of ACL's decision and asked it to reconsider.
After a heated exchange Dezago told Cliff: `I ain't taking any more shit out of you. Get it sorted or we leave permanently!'
That night there was no limit on how much we drunk!
