TGWU picket line ban
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NORTH-EAST England lorry drivers have been given a specific instruction that they should not cross steel strikers' picket lines.
Transport and General Workers Union regional secretary Joe Mills issued the instruction to clear up confusion which had built up in the wake of earlier advice that they should recognise all picket lines.
The instruction is still voluntary. "If drivers do cross picket lines, then it is their pigeon," said a spokesman.
There are 14,000 TGWU drivers in the North-East, and the union estimates that about 200 men, mostly on Teesside, have been laid off as a result of the strike. The Road Haulage Association estimates that over 8000 drivers throughout the country are now laid off, following the strike's spread to the private sector.