The dockers' dominion
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It is bad enough that the Government appears to be goinf ahead with plans to give dockers the working rights the have demanded within a five-mile corridor bordering oul waterways. If it is true that State organisations are to hi exempted from the obligation to employ dock labour or "non-dock" work then the whole issue becomes mon serious; this really would be an indefensible piece of dis crimatory legislation—with the implicit admission tha there were, as industry has claimed, disadvantages in em ploying dock labour.
Britain's dockers, under an economic threat that is partl: of their own making, are intent on spreading their dominion In times of full employment their unique job security wa an anomaly; in a time of harsh unemployment it is a brave or foolhardy, Department of Employment which singles ther out for an extension of their empire. If their rights in th new territory were to be limited to container stuffing, hau. iers and warehouse operators might accept this for the sak of peace. If, however, the extended dock labour scheme i to include handling and storage, then not only employer but drivers and warehousemen will be up in arms at y( another threat to their livelihood. Jack Jones has been som( thing of a national conciliator lately; here is a domestic clas for him to head off.