The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has been informed that theshop stewards representing the striking Liverpool dock workers have declaredJanuary 20th as an international day of solidarity action in support of theirongoing dispute.
The ITF and its affiliated unions have supported the Liverpool strikers bothpractically and industrially over the fourteen months of this dispute. Thedockers are fighting against the casualisation of port operations and for thereinstatement of permanent workers who were replaced by casual labour. Theircampaign echoes the situation faced by many port workers all over the world andtheir strike is thus a significant part of the world-wide struggle by dock tradeunions against deregulation and casualisation.
The ITF wishes to re-confirm its support for the striking Liverpool dockworkers. Though the striking dockers' trade union, the UK ITF-affiliatedTransport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) has not been able to make thedispute official due to British anti-trade union legislation, the position ofthe ITF remains that it continues to support the TGWU in seeking an acceptableagreement based on negotiations between the TGWU and the Mersey Dock and HarbourCompany. It encourages its affiliated organisations to undertake all possiblelegal trade union strategies to put pressure on the Mersey Dock and HarbourCompany and on shipping firms carrying cargoes that have been loaded by strikebreakers in Liverpool.
The ITF wishes to encourage member unions to do what they can within theframework of national circumstances to demonstrate solidarity with the Liverpoolstrikers on January 20th.
David Cockroft
Kees Marges
ITF Dockers' Secretary
