TGWU calls for new talks in the Mersey docks dispute.

"This dispute has done great harm to the dockers, their families, the community of Liverpool and the Company. In the light of ACL's decision to return to the port, it is time to make a fresh start in negotiations without any preconditions on either side."

It is believed that this new intervention by the TGWU followed discussion between the TGWU and the ITF. The General Secretary of the ITF, David Cockcroft, seems to have been unhappy at the intervention by Mersey dockers at the recent ITF Centenary celebrations where they called for support for their fight from the ITF to be stepped up. Despite some rhetoric the ITF has in practice done very little in real terms to extend international support for the Mersey dockers.

The Mersey Port Shop Stewards met TGWU leaders yesterday and afterwards issued a statement saying that although they had no objection to talking to the dock company, they will continue to demand full reinstatement for all the sacked dockers. They said this has been their position since day one and has been almost unanimously endorsed every time it is put to mass meetings of the dockers.