Jimmy: I'm 60 years of age, and I can get a pension and that, but all I want out of there is the scabs, that's the first thing. My father actually got killed on the docks, my brother was down there, my grandfather and everything, so I'm one of them that won't give in. But there is lads that will give in, I've got to say that.
Steve: We've had a talk many a day down on the Alex gate and we have our Doctor Doom's among us. People get disheartened saying "oh well we've been down these docks 14 months now and what's the outcome?" None of us know the outcome, but we know that we've got nowhere else to go.
I mean there are certain guys saying if they upped this offer now to maybe 35, they'll snatch their hand off if it comes to a ballot. Well I say we've lost near enough that much in the 14 months we've been out of work, so we'd be paying ourselves to disappear from this dock dispute and doing the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company a favour. And the thing is, those scabs in there are going to earn that in the next 12 months, we've got to live off that severance and feed our families for the rest of our lives if we don't touch for any more work outside the dock gate. But the likes of me, Jimmy and the lads who are sitting around here now, we're resilient, we've just got to buck those up that are getting disheartened.
Brian: As it's gone on for nearly 15 months now, I'm actually getting stronger, not weaker. I decided from the off to get involved in the dispute and play a positive part, so I put myself down for delegations. And when you go round the country and see the committment that people have for you, you owe it to them to win a victory not only for ourselves but for other trade unionists.
I want to see the scabs out of the port, I want to see the men back that want to go back, and I want to see the union back in there calling the shots, and let's have decent conditions. That's what I want.
Jimmy: If anything does happen to us and we do move away from that dock gate, every man jack working for the Dock Board is gonna get a new contract of low wages. The Port Police are gonna get sacked, and there'll be Expo or someone in their place. So we're actually fighting for those men's jobs who are working in there, besides our own, so I think they should even be proud of us, 'cos we're not proud of them.
LabourNet: What makes you think it's possible to win?
Steve: It's just a gut feeling that they are starting to crumble a little bit inside those dock gates. I think there is a bit of turmoil going on now it's actually getting to them, and I feel that we're on the turning point and we've just got to stay where we are and "Hold the Line" and I think we'll get the result.
Brian: It's the committment of the men that is going to make us win. They might moan and groan down on the picket line and it's only natural after 14 or 15 months, but, you hear them here at the meeting, and if there's anything that comes out, they're very supportive of what the shop stewards say so the men's committment is still there and that's what's going to win it for us.
LabourNet: There are workers in this country who could, in theory, take action in support. What would you say to them?
Brian: I'd say to them to get on board, because as we've always said right the way throughout this strike, victory for us isn't only a victory for us, it's gonna be a victory for everybody. Because the conditions that they did actually impose upon us when we were in them gates are beginning to creep in to other industries. And since them days it's snowballed, and I think it's crucial for the trade union movement that we win this. It's gonna give everybody inspiration, and I think it will affect the course of industrial relations in the future.
We want physical support. We want people now to have the guts to come out and say "What's happened to those Liverpool dockers is wrong", and any other workers that's been sacked as well. And get on board and say "Well ok, we send containers to there. They're not going there." Drivers to have the balls to do what the French drivers done and say "No, we're not going across a picket line." We want to get back to the days when workers supported workers, and that's the only way that workers are gonna win things.
Steve: We should be striving for a national day of action. We should start with that foot in the door, a couple of hours stop work and then maybe a national day of action in all unions, and all industries. I mean without sounding rebellious, that's what we need.
LabourNet: What's holding people back?
Jimmy: Fear.
Steve: Fear.
Brian: Economic fear.
Jimmy: They're frightened because they know there's someone there to take their job, the minute they look round the corner.
Brian: See the idea that they're frightened of losing their jobs by taking action, they're still gonna lose their jobs anyway because they're frightened to take action. All they want in the docks is 'yes men' who jump through hoops. So they've got to show that they're strong. And they should've come on board with us from the very off. If everyone in that port had supported us that strike wouldn't have lasted a couple of weeks.
Steve: I'm very confident that we'll get a result, now whether that result is total reinstatement, which is what we're striving for, I don't know. But I'm very optimistic that we will win this battle. Whatever is negotiated at the end of the day between the union and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, I think that it will be suitable, that most men will be happy with the result.
Jimmy: All I want is the lads who want to go back, to go back, because the likes of me, I don't want to go back. It suits me to retire. But the lads who want to go back, they've got to go back. If we split, that's it. Even the kids, they've got to go back.
Brian: The settlement of this dispute has got to involve everybody. Otherwise we've been taking this action for 15 months for nothing. So there's no way that a deal can be sorted without Torside, Nelson Freight, and all the other parts, it's got to involve everybody.
Steve: On a personal level, I've been on the docks since the day I left school and I've never been unemployed in my life until this dispute started, and we're talking 28 years. And I've enjoyed working on the docks, I've learnt a lot off a lot of fellas, I've learned to develop a lot of friendships with the people down there, and I don't think that I should be torn away from those docks over this dispute and the way we were set up. I know there's a living for me down on them docks and I want to go back to it.
