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Industry prepares ti beat dockers
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• As Commercial Motor went to press on Tuesday, hauliers were bracing themselves for a national dock strike.
Most hauliers we spoke to seem to favour the Government's line on the abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme, and most believe they can avoid major problems at the docks so long as there is no supportive action by dockers at ports which do not belong to the scheme.
Roger Marlowe, managing director of Bowden Freight Interantional of Croydon, says the abolition of the scheme is long overdue. He plans to use non-scheme ports in the event of a strike and believes the shipping companies will have similar plans. "We will sit it out because whatever it costs us, I think we will benefit in the long run," he says.
Aston Clinton Haulage already uses non-scheme ports such as Dover, Poole and Folkestone and hopes these will not be badly affected by any industrial action. It is right for the system to end, says David Fowler, but he believes the news of its demise could have been broken more tactfully.
Tony Morgan, boss of London-based Europe Express, thinks the key for hauliers will be whether the non-scheme ports, which now handle over half goods by value, decide to take secondary action: "If all the ports come out we will be in big trouble. However, I feel the people at Dover have got more sense than to come out in sympathy, as they showed in the P&O dispute."
This view is echoed by the British Port Federation, which says of the non-scheme ports: "They have nothing to gain and could risk losing their assets. We would be astounded if they go out."
A National Association of Port Employers document leaked to The Independent newspaper says a strike is "in
evitable" although "non-scheme ports will very quickly be back at work after a token day or two's support".
Nonetheless, Peter Partridge, the Transport and General Workers Union official at the ports of Ipswich and Felixstowe, reckons nonscheme dockers will back their colleagues: "There will be financial assistance for nonscheme ports like Felixstowe if there is a strike.
The FTA holds that the scheme, introduced in 1947 to end the practice of casual labour, is an "anachronism" which "has acted as a barrier against investment and progress within the ports industry".
Employment secretary Norman Fowler, who proposed the Bill last week, says the Government is not trying to provoke a strike and is confident the economy is strong enough to withstand any backlash. His shadow has slammed the Bill as a "reckless gamble" and criticises the Government for failing to consult the union.
TGWU general secretary Ron Todd has made it clear that he does not support unofficial action (dockers who walked out spontaneously in protest at the abolition Bill last Friday at Tilbury, Southampton, Glas gow, Bristol and Liverpool returned to work on Monday) but John Connolly, the union's national docks officer says a full-scale strike is likely.
He believes the Government's plan for total abolition "suggests that there is no room for negotiation".