Speech by Bill Morris, Gen. Secretary of T&GWU, to Liverpool Dockers, 14 March 1996

Bill Morris:

Thanks Jimmy, and good morning sisters and brothers. Can I say first of all that I'm here this morning, not just pleased to be with you, not just delighted to see the spirit the solidarity and the committment, but proud to be with you and proud to be part and parcel of an experience which we did not seek but an experience which I think will become part of the history and the struggles of the working class and our movement for justice.

It's one of those situations which passes in time but when you look back you have to justify where you were and what contribution you made. It's one of those situations where as you age and your grandchildren says to you "where were you at the great moment?" you either stand up with pride and said "I was there" or you hung your head in shame, without an answer ("hear hear" applause).

And I tell you this, when my grandchildren says to me, in 15, 20, 25 years from now, "where were you when the Liverpool dockworkers was fighting for their jobs, their community, their dignity and their pride," I want to be able to say "I was there marching with them side by side" (cheers, applause). I'm here this morning, I'm here this morning full of that pride, and feel almost privileged to be part of this history in its making.

And I can tell you this morning that I speak on behalf of every single member of the Transport & General Workers Union and it's not very often the General Secretary can make that claim. But I can with certainty this morning, make that claim. I can with certainty bring you the greetings, the commitment of every single one of our members, because as I go around the country, I get from them to pass onto you, their admiration, their pride, their understanding of your struggle. They no longer see it colleagues as your struggle, they see it as their struggle, they see it on the basis that if you do not win, then we all will have lost.

That is what they are saying to me, that the Liverpool dockers must win and they've got to be reinstated, because they're fighting a struggle for jobs, and if there's one thing that we need in this country it is jobs for our children, our grandchildren, and our community ("he's right" applause).

But we need to understand that the Rubicon has been crossed, there is no turning back, this is a straightforward one single road to victory, there can be turning back and no backsliding until victory is won, and you know what the agenda is, it's your jobs.

Comrades, in December, your General Executive Council debated the issues and made a very clear commitment to the dockers in Liverpool. I think they was also putting down a very clear marker to other employers who want to boss trade unions, who want to use the anti-Tory laws (sic) in order to trample our class into the ground.

But they made a very clear statement, that is, a statement which says that we will support our members within the context of the hardship, we will continue to condemn the use of the anti-Tory laws, and we will continue as long as it takes, to keep going back as many times as it takes to the negotiating table until we can get this company to understand, to understand, that a negotiated settlement which gives people their jobs back, is the only way, the only way that a solution is going to be found to this problem.

It is nearly 6 months, but I think that every time you come into this room, you will have got a feeling that it's just one more step, one more extra mile that we have to walk and we have to march. When this dispute started, the possibility of us debating with this company 6 months afterwards, if anybody had said that you would have been carted away with people in white coats and brought to some institutions. The company said it was all over, we had nothing to talk about, they no longer had any responsibilities. And despite all the constraints, despite all the difficulties, of the anti-trade union law, we've worked our way forward, we've negotiated our way forward, but we've only been able to do it as a result of the determination and the commitment that you have shown.

And this morning I'm here to thank you on behalf of the Transport and General Workers Union, every single member of our union, you fight for them. This company is beginning to understand that every single day that goes by marks, makes a further step in your victory. What is it they said? That you were no longer their responsibility. They wouldn't sit down and talk with you.

The great victory, as far as I'm concerned, is to force them to recognise that it's not the bureaucracy that's gonna lead the working class and the dockers to victory, it is the leadership which you elect, it's the Jimmy Nolan's and the Davies's and the Carden's and all the other leadership that you elect that will in fact lead this dispute to victory, and they better understand that because nothing less than a recognition of that is going to bring about the sort of solution that is required ("hear hear").

I saw it, the way I saw it was like standing on a window ledge with a great big drop, that's how it looked at one stage. But with our courage, with our determination, and with the justice in the case, in the demands, we have worked our way forward off that window ledge into the safety, and now we're setting the agenda, we're calling the shots and we're making the demands and that's why we're gonna win this dispute (applause).

And I tell you why we're gonna win this dispute ("God's on our side"), because we have got something, God's on our side, ("God's on our side"), we have got something that they don't understand, they can't cope with, they can't deal with, because it's the qualities and the values that makes our movement what it is. I tell you what it is in a word, it's called solidarity (cheer, applause).

They don't understand solidarity because you can't buy it, it's not in the balance sheet, you can't whistle some up you have to earn it and you earn it with respect.

..this morning, and I salute and take my hat off and congratulate and pledge the greatest long term debt of the TA&G to the ILA, its leadership (applause, cheer). Colleagues, our solidarity hasn't just been at home. We take our solidarity with our neighbours for granted. We take our solidarity for our community in Liverpool, our community in Birmingham, and wherever the working class are situated, for granted. We say that the people support us, because they have a duty to support us. We know how great it is, we hope that we never have to be called on to repay it, but I say to John and his colleagues, if we have to repay it, rest assured comrades, we will (applause).

And next week, when the ITF meets in Stuttgart in Germany, rest assured with what the ITF has done so far, and there may be some who feel that more could have been done and more can always be done in any situation, but rest assured, between the 3 of us on this platform, we give you a guarantee this morning, that your dispute, and this issues for which you are fighting, which are issues which are germane to every single docker anywhere on this planet, because it is the same forces that are at work which are seeking to bring casual workers in, seeking to ensure that management manage with impunity for workers rights, trampling on workers rights, it is Liverpool today, it is Copenhagen tomorrow, it's Antwerp the other day, and it is the United States in any single day.

And unless we put that mark down, unless we make a stand now, and unless we deliver on behalf of dockers everywhere, on behalf of British workers everywhere, then it seems to me that we will only be saying it's a short term victory.

This ain't gonna be no short term victory. This is gonna be a victory which is gonna change the face, change the face of international stevedoring because wherever they are, they know about your dispute, they're watching Liverpool, and therefore we're fighting international solidarity not just for ourselves but for dockers everywhere.

So I leave you in conclusion to say I am here to reaffirm the Executive Council's commitment and support. I am here to speak on behalf of the union. I am here to say to you that whatever happens, our spirit will never be broken, and our bellies will never be starved, because comrades you in Liverpool will never ever walk alone. Good luck, and victory to the Liverpool dockers (cheering, applause, whistles).