The central problem which lies behind the national strike is one workers in all the traditional industries have faced - the threat or reality of redundancy. Theoretically the docker has been protected from this threat since the 1947 Docks Labour Scheme registered all dock workers and established joint control over the size of the register.
Despite the fixed register the majority of men remained casually employed in a limited sense. Though registered, and entitled to "fall back money" in the absence of work for the day, 70% of the dockers were not with a regular employer but were part of a pool from which employers drew. This situation was changed in the late '60s with the implementation of Devlin Phase I and "de casualization". The Devlin agreement meant massive redundancies followed by the allocation of all who remained to specific employers. The agreement was accepted by the men because it appeared to offer both job security and security as to the level of weekly income absent from the previous casual system. Registration and joint control remained despite the end of casual labour.
Since decasualization the employers have recommenced ridding themselves of labour made surplus by: the growth of unregistered ports, the further decline of the short sea trade and containerisation. This has meant the growth of the temporary unattached register where men subsist on fall-back pay of about £20 a week. The growth of the TUR has been particularly swift in the last few months.
The demands put forward by the National Docks Group and/or the National Shop Stewards Committee include:
* equal pay for all registered dockers (including those on the TUR)
* work sharing to absorb the TUR * return of all groupage container work to registered dock workers * registration of all the independent Sports (This is to stop their further expansion which stems from the lower costs of inferior pay and conditions)
* retirement at 60 on 70% earnings * extra weeks' holiday What has particularly annoyed the dockers is the growth of container depots which employ non-registered men within the vicinity of the existing port. It is this which has led to the picketing at Chobham Farm Midland Cold Storage and Dagenham Cold Storage.
Whitelaw's statement that the main priority for British imperialism in Ireland is to root From this condemnation the British propaganda machine hopes to push them into at