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Drivers hit back in London container conflict

14th July 1972, Page 18
14th July 1972
Page 18
Page 18, 14th July 1972 — Drivers hit back in London container conflict
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Meeting today may bring peace in dockland

by CM reporters

• The blacking at London container depots may end on Monday. This could be the outcome of a joint meeting to be held today. Friday, between the unofficial dockers' shop stewards committee and 90 stewards representing drivers. The result is expected to be made public tomorrow.

This is the latest move in an eventful and confused week, when Road Haulage Association members displayed an unusual degree of unity in their decision to cross picket lines in defiance of the dockers' national "blacking" of companies which did so. The managing director of London hauliers Spurlings Ltd, Mr J. French, told CM that the drivers had taken their employers' lead and presented a united front to the pickets on Tuesday.

Withdrawal at LIFT Vehicles from prominent London haulage companies crossed the picket lines at the LIFT terminal at Stratford on Tuesday, and on the following day the dockers withdrew. "They found they had bitten off more than they could chew," said one operator.

The decision to cross the picket lines had been taken at an RHA area meeting in London on Monday (reported on page 18). Another immediate action by haulage drivers was a threat to picket the London docks — and to close them if necessary. Those whose jobs are threatened by dockers' action said they would disrupt the port from next Monday unless dockers' pickets were removed and all-party discussions started.

Counteraction at Chobham Farm On Wednesday drivers set up picket lines at Chobham Farm, with the promise that unless the dockers met them to talk "sensibly" they would close the docks. Dockers at Chobham Farm were also met with counter-picketing by depot workers protesting at the downgrading of existing employees following the management's agreement to use dock labour.

Support for the drivers came from an unexpected quarter on Wednesday when a London taxi driver offered the assistance of members of his association at the drivers' picket lines. He said this was retaliation against dockers who drove minicabs between shifts.

On Wednesday the general secretary of the United Road Transport Union, Mr Jackson Moore, attended one of a prearranged series of meetings between individual union leaders and the Minister for Transport Industries, and it was understood that the docks situation was discussed. After the meeting he was not available for comment.

Some driver members of the TGWU have said they are considering breaking away from the union to form a new union for holders of hgv driving licences. Consideration had been given to asking URTU to take them as members, but the union's no-poaching agreement would not permit this. Mr Ted Johns, the east London driver who organized a lobby of Labour MPs at Westminster on Monday night, said he felt the TGWU was pandering to the dockers and ignoring the problems of drivers and warehousemen.

The most severely hit operator in London at present is probably Jess B. Woodcock, whose groupage depot has been blacked for 10 weeks. Mr A. Scott, a director of the company, told CM this week that less than a quarter of his customers were risking crossing the picket lines, although he anticipated that his customers would return when the dispute was settled.

While dockers and drivers confronted one another in the docks and depots this week, both Parliament and the courts were considering aspects of the disputes. In the Appeal Court and the NIRC, Midland Cold Storage was seeking orders to restrain dockers and stewards from blacking lorries visiting its premises (as reported on page 18); the House of Lords was hearing the start of the appeal by three hauliers against the Appeal Court ruling on the TGWU's responsibility for its stewards (page 19); and in the Commons the Government was being pressed to say more about the Official. Solicitor's original intervention in the Chobham Farm dispute.

Official Solicitor criticized Mr Stanley Orme (Lab, 'Salford W) felt the Solicitor's intervention had caused great consternation and tended to bring the law into disrepute. He thought the Official Solicitor's answers "evasive" and wanted to know who brought pressure to bear on him to intervene. • The Attorney General, Sir Peter Rawlinson, emphasized that it was the National Industrial Relations Court itself which had invited the Official Solicitor to intervene. He assured another member that, during the week beginning June 12, the Official Solicitor had held no discussions with any Government department.


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