The State has backed down in the face of the dockers' refusal to obey the law (whether the actions of the Official Solicitor resulted from a caucus at Downing Street or the Inner Temple is unimportant). Heath's strategy has received another dent. However, before we become euphoric about the current political performance of the working class, other aspects of the docks dispute must be taken into account. The problem with which the dockworker is immediately faced is the unattached register or pool of unemployed but registered workers (see articles in the last two issues of The Red Mole).
Redundancy in the face of technological change is the major problem in traditional industries. The gains of previous generations of dockworkers who fought for statutory regulation of the labour force to defend themselves against the twin dangers of cheap labour and victimisation, ensured that the paring of the labour force in the docks was obstructed. The growth of the pool is the result. The response to the pool, like that to redundancies elsewhere, is a good yardstick to the political level of the struggle. The strategy which we would support would be one which demanded full maintenance on the pool'. This demand for pay equal to that received by other dockworkers is justified by the fact that workers should not have to bear the burden of the capitalists' need to reduce their costs. Obviously this sort of demand with or without work sharing would only very Bernie Steer addresses Tower Hill meeting of dockers, Monday, 19 June. be generally granted under capitalism. The demands for equal pay and work sharing were both advanced by the National Docks Group and voted for by the men. Now these demands have been at least momentarily neglected.
The delegates at the meeting on Wednesday, 14 June, voted not to go ahead with a national strike for the moment after being advised by Jack Jones that it was worth continuing to negotiate. Jones made this recommendation despite the fact that the employers refused to discuss work sharing and were stalling the discussions on increases in fall-back pay (income of the dockworker on the pool). Instead of insisting that these demands be taken seriously Jones was "encouraged" by a big increase in voluntary severance pay and the offer of a highpowered committee to discuss bringing more work into dockland. Dockers can be forgiven their scepticism about this last offer. Bernie Steer pointed out that the employers on the committee were the same as those who closed their plant in dockland and were using cheaper labour elsewhere. One of the suggestions was for the building of cold storage depots in dockland. Given that a 10-year-old storage plant was closed while another was being built in Dagenham, the suggestion appears to be simply a verbal sop.
The shop stewards committee is not focussing on the problem of the pool in any direct way, either. Instead of concentrating on the full maintenance demand, the shop stewards have fought for the return of groupage work now being done by non-registered labour. That means reinforcing the sectorialism. of the dockworker rather than using the genuine mood of solidarity and class feeling of many dockers about the pool to conduct a fight on demands which can constantly be justified in ways which break with bourgeois ideas. It is almost impossible for any developed revolutionaries in the shop stewards committee to put their ideas forward given the strategy the committee have adopted. The diffcrentiation which would have been visible to the more political docker if the pool had been fought directly will now be seen only in terms of enthusiasm, willingness to go to gaol or some other personal characteristic The shop stewards committee have of course achieved a great deal in rebuilding the unofficial leadership virtually from scratch since the eight week continuity strike, which decisively weakened the Docks Liaison Committee. They have exceeded the power of their predecessors despite the fact that the conditions of piecework have ceased to exist. However the struggle of unparalleled militancy which they have led and which will be an inspiration throughout the vanguard, is no break from social democracy ideologically.
The struggle for traditional work can, if won, only ameliorate the condition of the unemployed dockworkers, it offers no fundamental solution. SECTORIALISM AND THE MEDIA One consequence of the demand for the return of the groupage, packing and stripping now being done by other workers is the mileage the media can make out of it. As the picketing continues and the charges have been dropped, the dispute will increasingly be presented as one between militant and innocent workers. A bit of background will illuminate this opposition ignored by the media. 1. Virtually all the employers at the inland container terminals are traditional docks employers and know the possible consequences. The Dagenham depots being picketed are owned by Hays Wharf. Chobham Farm is part-owned by T. Wallis of the Royal Group. 2. The Farm depot will unpack the Glen/Ban line, Far East work recently removed from the Royals and Hull. In the Royals this has meant the return of 1700 men to the pool (see The Red Mole, 42). 3. Wallis is reported to have been responsible for getting the Chobham Farm men to join the T&GWU, in order to make any fight even more confused. 4. The Chobham Farm men have not only gone to the NIRC - a scab action - but have reported lorry tails to the police as potential hijackers. 5. Despite the manner in which the Chobham men have fought the pickets, Vic Turner and other members of the shop stewards committee say that they will support any picket for redundancy payment by the Chobham men after the dockers get inside. 6. Finally, the dockers have been pursuing the work for three years through normal procedure. The workers at Chobham, drawn from traditional docks areas, are and were aware of this. Since Labour's "Docks and Harbours Act" in 1966 a legal tribunal has replaced the old Joint Committees which decided which work was doo work. This legal tribunal has consistently found against the dockers despite the inclusive nature of the original definition. Perhaps the decisions of the tribunal will be changed by the dockers in struggle as were those of the NIRC. E. Waring
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