Take a chance
Page 4
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THE LAST word on the Dock Work Regulation Bill has been spoken. The Bill has become an Act. It was all too simple reducing the 5-mile corridor to half a mile — too good to be true.
It IS true, but what does it mean apart from a victory for the Tory peers? Not too much in practical terms.
The bulk of the warehousing falls easily within the half mile. Old disused riverside warehouses recently acquired by road haulage firms, will once again ring with the voices of dockers. Very little, if anything, was gained by the Lords' victory.
Now that we have to live with it, the dockers will find their haulage bosses are not too difficult to deal with, but they won't be pushed too far. Indeed, if the are pushed, they will either move out of the protected area or out of warehousing.
The dockers are being given another chance to restore themselves as an important part of the country's workforce. If they misuse it the sheds, wharfs and stores will once again become derelict Shells memorials of lost opportunities.