FTA on docks: `steamhammer to crack nut'
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A STEAMHAMMER to crack a nut is how the Freight Transport Association this week described the Governent's proposals for reorganising dockwork. In a memorandum to the Secretary of State for Employment, Mr Michael Foot, the FTA urges the Governent to have second thoughts on the matter.
The FTA says that the proposed dock workers employment scheme is "outmoded and counter-productive, will perpetuate existing difficulties, give rise to demarcation disputes and require continual recourse to legislation." The Association's views are similar to those expressed by the Road Haulage Association in its submission to the Minister (CM last week).
The FTA is particularly worried by the scope of the proposals. Britain could quickly become a nation of dockers, says its submission, if workers employed in storage, warehousing, sorting, weighing, movement and a whole range of other functions ancillary to transport are included in the scheme, as the Government proposes.
The FTA summarises its three main objections to the scheme as follows : • the scheme is deeply derisive and will lead to industrial dispute; • a small sector of the labour farce could have a stranglehold on the nation's economy; and • a loss of flexibility will result from the extension of dockwork.
In conclusion the FTA says that it can detect no sign in the Government's consultative document that the far-reaching effects of the proposals have been considered.