No Heatons docks transport till blacking ends
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• While dockers at Liverpool and Preston have warned that they are maintaining the blacking of containers from certain firms Heatons Transport Ltd, one of the companies at the centre of the original row, has no plans for sending vehicles to the docks.
Mr Robert Heaton Jnr, joint managing director, said the arrangement was that once the docks were working normally again they would take part in talks aimed at a settlement. He went on: "We are still waiting to hear from the union. Until we do I have no intention of sending a vehicle in to test the situation. There is no point — we have to clear the situation up."
Asked about the effects of the dispute on his firm, Mr Heaton said: "I don't think there's any doubt about the future. I am fairly confident we shall still be in the business certainly for my lifetime. We have lost some customers, it's true — but on the other hand we have some very loyal ones who stayed with us in spite. of all this. Nevertheless, there is no stuffing and stripping business left. Maybe we can get some back afterwards.
"We have been lucky in replacing it with domestic work, though how long that can last I don't know. We were awarded compensation by the courts, and that made a tremendous difference, but satisfying our customers is our primary objective."
Mr Heaton said it had been estimated that in the first four weeks of the trouble the company has lost £5000 in profit. "But it will be a mammoth task for the accountants to come to the overall figure because it is complicated by a wage rise and changes in rates," he said.
Mr Heaton said there had been no loss of jobs for the 120-strong work force of drivers and loaders.
Mr Colin Clayton, Preston Docks branch secretary of the TGWU, commented: "As far as Preston is concerned, Heatons stay blacked. As far as other companies are concerned, it will depend on what other docks are doing."