Pledges arriving in the sacked Liverpool dockers' office spell trouble for Mersey Docks' customers ACL, Cast, CanMar, and Zim Line while other major shipping consortia face delays on both sides of the Pacific.
International coordinator Terry Teague sees this week as the climax of 14 months work involving every man and woman in the dispute, since the decision to seek a global blockade was taken in November 1995, two months after nearly 500 men were sacked for honouring a picket line. Liverpool dockers have flown to stand at dock gates, occupy cranes and address rank and file dockers and union officials in 62 ports while over 100 international delegates have attended mass meetings and conferences or joined the picket line in Liverpool. Their direct contact with sacked dockers and Women of the Waterfront has unlocked the coordinated industrial action now backed by the International Transportworkers Federation.
Currently, action is imminent in 15 countries. Faxes and phone calls will deluge Mersey Docks and assorted shipping lines, and work will stop in around 80 ports.
Australia: although the new Liberal Government has singled out the Maritime Union of Australia which also has its own battle against privatisation by shipping line P&O, the MUA intends to hit the "Zim Australia" in Sydney this week in view of Zim Line's continuing use of Liverpool.
New Zealand: Seafarers will target Zim Line while wharfies (longshoremen) in Auckland have designated Monday 20/1 as their "picnic day" despite legal threats from the employers.
Japan: The 40,000 strong National Council of Dockworkers Unions (Zenkoku Kowan) will hold workshop meetings on 20/1 at all 50 ports it organises. In 6 ports the meetings are expected to last all morning. Major shipping consortia including OOCL, Evergreen NYK, and P&O will be affected.
US West Coast: A demonstration outside the British Consulate in San Francisco was held on Friday 17/1 including the Labour Council, Union Pacific railroad workers, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, and GCIU. The Consul General Mr. Malcom Dougal apparently claimed the UK Government had "no ownership" of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, despite the Government's 14% shareholding. 10 ports organised by the ILWU will act, with 24 hour stoppages due in the key ports of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland on 20/1. The "American President" line is threatening legal action, claiming damages of $3,000--4,000 per hour's delay on each vessel.
Quebec: A mass meeting of 1,000 longshoremen is planned to begin 8am Monday, organised by the Syndicat des Debardeurs.
Canada: In St. John, New Brunswick, members of the International Longshoremen's Association local 273 will shut the port for 24 hours on Monday.
US East coast: The International Longshoremen's Association is organising a major demo at the British Embassy in Washington. Rank and file longshoremen may honour Martin Luther King's birthday by staying off work Monday.
Sweden: All ACL and CAST cargo will be stopped for 24 hours on Tuesday 21/1 in Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Malmo, and Stockholm.
Denmark: Mass meetings will be held in Arhus, Copenhagen, and Odense on 20/1.by the Danish General Workers Union
Belgium: The "Atlantic Compass" (ACL) was delayed 7 hours on 16/1 as the entire night shift, including ancillary workers, boycotted the ship which calls in Liverpool on a regular run. Dockers from the BTB and CVD unions will demonstrate at the British Embassy in Brussels on 20/1, and industrial action is anticipated in Zeebrugge and Ghent.
Netherlands: Stop work meetings will be held by the FNV in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, while industrial action by the OVB in Rotterdam is expected later this week.
Germany: Stop work meetings will be held by the OTV in Hamburg and Bremerhaven, where the rank and file are said to be ready to act against any CanMar or ACL vessels.
France: A OOCL vessel involved in a slot-share arrangement with Liverpool is to be delayed 8 hours in Le Havre by the CGT from 11pm Sunday 19/1. Liverpool dockers Jim Nolan and Bobby Morton are travelling to Paris and the south of France 20/1 and will meet both CGT and FO dockers.
Portugal: Mass meetings were due to be held 19/1 in Lisbon and Leixoes with a view to action later in the week.
Spain: The Coordinadora is currently constrained by the unfinished renegotiation of their national agreement, but will seek industrial action in future.
Italy: The workers' cooperative in Genoa will hold a mass meeting 20/1 with a view to action later this week. Approaches are also being made to the private terminal servicing CAST/CanMar. Both FILT and CGIL unions are involved.
Cyprus: Zim Line will be targetted in Limassol later this week by the Federation of Transport, Petrol and Agricultural Workers.
It is hard to see how shipping lines facing this scale of disruption can fail to call an end to Mersey Docks' great gamble.
LabourNet Report by Greg Dropkin
