Dock Bill battle goes on
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
COULD the Government's Dock Work Regulation Bill triumph by eight votes in the Commons last week turn out to be an empty victory ?
There are signs that when the controversial Bill reaches the committee stage its opponents have a good chance of forcing major changes to be made.
By switching their tactics from outright opposition to acceptance at the right price, the Tories hope to win over some of the union-backed Labour Members who are worried about dockers taking other people's jobs.
Although the Government had a reasonably safe majority on the Bill's second reading, the committee stage is likely to be a closer thing.
It would take only one Labour MP to support the Tories for the Government to lose its majority on the committee, which is made up of 31 members.
The Employment Secretary, Mr Michael Foot, has already opened the door for amendments. He said during the debate that he would introduce changes which would give exemption from registration under the proposed new dock labour scheme to long established warehousing, storage, packing and cold storage operations.
These promised changes brought wavering MPs back into the fold, but now leave the Government vulnerable to amendments from the other side. The Tories have said that they will be pressing for four basic amendments.
These are a tightening of the definition of dock work; to get a criteria under which ports will be included or excluded; to make sure that port users are represented on the proposed National Dock Labour Board; and to get a right of appeal in any further extension of the scheme beyond the planned five-mile corridor.
The continued fight against the "unloved and unwanted" Bill has received backing from the Freight Transport Association.
Mr Gary Turvey, deputy director-general, told members last week that if the pressure were kept on, major concessions could be obtained, The FTA wanted an assurance that the driving of goods vehicles would be excluded from the definition of dock work. It also wanted ownaccount operators in transport and storage exempted from the Bill's provisions.