Government mauled in Dock fight
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from our Parliamentary correspondent
[HE GOVERNMENT is putting on a brave face after nauling which its Dock Work Regulations Bill received in -louse of Lords last week.
Opposition peers on Wednesday severely pruned where registered dockers would rule the roost.
And when the Committee tage of the Bill resumed on 'riday they passed a further mendment making it imposs)1e for a port to be classified ;here it was providing an fficient service to its users.
Mr Michael Foot, Leader of he Commons said on ThursLay: "We have no intention of iropping the Bill, which is in, he national interest' But there are many in Westminster who think he vas being too optimistic. ['here is so much legislation waiting to be dealt with that it is far from certain that the Government will have time to restore the Bill to its original form.
The amendment doing away with the five-mile 'corridor' region to a half mile radius from harbours — accepted by 72 votes to 34 — was put forward by the Earl of Gowrie.
He warned that this fivemile "envelope" would become even more sinister should there be a national dock strike. It would effectively become a five-mile picketed or "no go" area through which port transport activities could not take place.
Resisting the change on behalf of the Government, Lord Oram said the proposed distance of half a mile was far too short for practical purposes.
He conceded that businessmen in the five mile zone would continue to face uncertainty, but said that the uncertainty which the dockers had suffered throughout their history had been far worse than anything that any businessmen were likely to suffer under this Bill.
Before the Lords agreed — by 16 votes to 54 — that there would have to be a public inquiry if anyone affected by the scheme maintained an objection, Lord Oram claimed that this almost amounted to procedural sabotage.
At the moment, in the existing scheme, there was a method of public inquiry, but that right was now to be done away with. And this at a time when a massive extention of any previous Dock Labour Scheme was proposed.
A change of this nature needed a justification of a very heavy kind from the Government, said Lord Gowrie.