26.9.97
The attached newsletter issued by Drake employees clearly reveals that they are now working under these same inhuman conditions that Mersey Docks and Harbour Company intended for us, and they ask the questions: 'Does the management realise that we too have families and home lives? . . Perhaps they don't care! Perhaps they look upon a transient workforce as a distinct advantage!'
Although the original cause of our dispute was put down to the sacking of the Torside workers, Merseyside Port Shop Stewards have always stated that there had been a build-up of dissent within the port for a number of years. That dissent had, in the main, arisen from the extreme changes in the working conditions, being forced on the dockworkers by a dictatorial management totally dehumanising the workforce.
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THE DART
THE NEWSLETTER OF DRAKES WORKFORCE
This newsletter is designed to give the workforce at the Royal Seaforth container terminal some sort of voice. It is born out of frustration at management's (Drakes and MDHCs) attempts to stifle the concerns, opinions and hopes of the workers.
Here we are, nearly two years after the old workforce walked out of the gate, and still we are having to put up with practices such as sixteen hour shifts; odd shifts, i.e. 0300 until 0700, with the threat of the sack if workers do not comply. All this is on top of the anxiety of not knowing what shift one will be required to work the following day, and no regular shift pattern. Does the management realise that we too have families and home lives? If one cannot feel settled and secure then this, inevitably, must have a direct affect on the quality and quantity of the work output. The new workforce came in to Seaforth full of enthusiasm and looked upon the venture as a fresh start, for them as well as the main employer. The latest issue of volume 15 "Port News" is testimony to the efforts of the present workforce, i.e. "profits up 59%, record cargoes, and forecast of future growth", and it is ironical that a Drakes' employee has to work alongside an employee that does the same job, but receives a bonus for their efforts.
We would suggest to the management that the current workforce is from a different culture, generation and ideological background to the old one, and is well aware of the issues, political and otherwise.
Perhaps the MD&HC and Drake Port Services are under the illusion that this "honeymoon period" will last indefinitely! Perhaps they don't care! Perhaps they look upon a transient workforce as a distinct advantage! One can envisage a situation, perhaps in the near future were these and other relevant issues will, sadly, come to a head.
The gravity and seriousness of the situation is appreciated by the authors of this newsletter, and this publication was printed with reluctance, but as the employees are not allowed any real representation it can be looked upon as a means to display the current feelings of the workforce.
Issue No. 1
