Nearing the end game?

Negotiations to resolve the Liverpool Lockout through the formation of a Labour Supply Unit are set to move into high gear following two private meetings between Mersey Docks and leading TGWU officials, and this week's decision by the union's General Executive Council to refrain from imposing a postal ballot for the moment.

A three week delay is expected, during which time the Labour Supply plan will be examined by all parties, the gulf between MDHC's desire to retain the services of Drake International and the dockers' demand for "Scabs Out, Dockers In" will be confronted and the intentions of the TGWU itself in the run-up to a General Election may be revealed.

Over the last month, dockers have been pre-occupied by the prospect that the union leadership would simply impose a ballot on the company's "ultimate offer". Despite a clear statement at the 10 February press conference which relaunched the Labour Supply proposal, when TGWU Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams told journalists there was no point to balloting on the existing offer, the stewards were later given many indications that TGWU General Secretary Bill Morris was intent on a ballot and sought the backing of the General Executive Council for its imposition.

One mass meeting after another has been taken up with debate on the absurdity of imposing an official ballot on an unofficial dispute of men who had already voted to reject an equivalent offer in February last year, by an 84% majority. On two occasions, General Executive Council members were invited to attend the mass meetings to judge for themselves the conduct of the dispute and the mood of the men.

On 21 Feb, three GEC members saw the dockers' overwhelming opposition to having a ballot stuffed down their throats. The next week's meeting was brought forward one day specifically to enable Executive members to attend. None did, perhaps because they had received a letter from Morris suggesting the union might face legal problems if they accepted the stewards' invite. The irony was heightened by the presence of Akinobu Itoh, Assistant General Secretary of the National Council of Dockworkers' Unions of Japan, who had crossed the globe to address Liverpool dockers. Last March, Bill Morris shared the same platform with John Bowers, President of the International Longshoremen's Association.

In this context, it seemed likely that Morris would heed the continuing pressure from Mersey Dock's Trevor Furlong and simply impose his will on the dockers. But by the time the General Executive began its quarterly meeting on 3 March, a majority had realised that an imposed ballot would provoke Executive member and dock steward Mike Carden to walk out and would also threaten to divide the union itself. On Tuesday, Morris agreed to withdraw the imposed ballot, for around 3 weeks. The wording had already adapted to include a proposal for setting up a new company.

Meanwhile Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams and Docks National Officer Graham Stevenson, who had presented the Labour Supply proposals a month earlier, had held two private meetings with Mersey Docks, most recently on 28 Feb. While both were authorised by the stewards, the full content has not yet been revealed. The company has apparently shown interest in a Labour Supply Unit, but so far only in regard to the General Cargo and Timber areas. They are also said to have responded favourably to the concept of a "minimum standards agreement" covering all stevedoring operations, as outlined in the Labour Supply document. MDHC has also proposed that the company and union jointly fund a business analysis. By coincidence, the timescale for this process is 3 weeks.

The central demands reiterated by stewards are that Drake International and other agencies be removed from the port along with the strikebreakers, full reinstatement for the sacked dockers to ensure continuity of all pension rights whether or not individuals then choose to leave the industry, the right to be involved in supplying labour to every area of port operations, and working conditions to be under dockers' control.

Whether or not Adams and Stevenson are putting these points to the MDHC remains a mystery. However, the uncertainty cannot last much longer. After three weeks of business analysis and talks, all parties will know each other's positions. The union will then have to decide whether to impose a ballot.

With a General Election looming, the TGWU leadership is doubtless under great pressure from Labour to end the dispute before it becomes a political football even though a full public debate would bring into focus the Government's 14% stake in MDHC and the huge EEC subsidies the company has received, ostensibly to help it create employment on Merseyside.

But whatever political pressure the Labour Party and TGWU may feel to end the dispute by any means necessary, their problem remains: why should men and women who have fought 18 months to uphold their right to refuse to cross a picket line now settle for a compromise on Mersey Docks' terms?