The 30 jobs are additional to the possible 41 ancillary (non-dockwork) jobs which sacked dockers may apply for as per the pre-Christmas offer from Mersey Docks, and a further 60 jobs which may become available in 18 months' time after the construction of a new River Berth.
The KPMG report, commissioned jointly by the TGWU and Mersey Docks, remains confidential and was not given to the union's General Executive Council last week although a verbal report was given by Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams. The TGWU national leadership has again delayed their anticipated move to impose a postal ballot on the sacked men on the basis of the KPMG report.
Over the last few weeks, KPMG has met twice with Deputy General Secretary Jack Adams, National Docks Officer Graham Stevenson and Regional Secretary Dave McCall, without the presence of port shop stewards. No report of these meetings was tabled at the Executive Council.
The Executive was informed that the issue of restoring full pension rights to the dockers had been fully resolved, but this report was contradicted by Adams who insisted the matter had not been concluded, a view shared by Pension Fund director Martin Hartrop.
The main discussion of the 21 month old dispute centred on the wording of an Executive Statement to be presented to the union's Biennial Delegate Conference early next month, where no less than 8 motions have been submitted from around the country including 4 from Liverpool dockers' branches.
The proposed Executive Statement echoes previous official accounts and stresses that "the General Executive Council of the Union has an obligation to preserve the fabric of the TGWU and not engage in activities for which it has no immunity or legal protection." It also attacks "The Guardian" for its coverage of the union's handling of the dispute, and "regrets that a number of motions placed on the Agenda for the BDC should resort to attacking our own Officers, representatives and organisation repeating many of the scurrilous lies circulated in the media".
At the Executive, Carden called for the proposed Statement to be rejected and for the elected leadership to discuss how the union can win the dispute by destroying Mersey Docks' ability to continue the Lockout. He told fellow Executive members that the General Secretary's insistence that he "couldn't understand" the strategy of seeking to inflict financial damage on MDHC, was a measure of the problems the sacked dockers confront within their own union.
Carden called on the Executive to:
In a 19-9 vote, the Executive rejected these proposals and endorsed an amended Executive Statement.
Concluding his report to the mass meeting, Mike Carden asked
"how can we deliver the knockout blow, when the TGWU throws in the towel every time we get close? We must take the decisions from Montreal forward to the ITF, and if the Labour Government say they 'won't get involved' we'll have to pursue them until they change their minds."
