The Liverpool Dockers' Dispute 1995-98
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Solidarity, Global Restructuring and Deregulation: The Liverpool Dockers’ Dispute 1995-98 Monica Clua Losada PhD University of York Department of Politics September 2010 Abstract The Liverpool dockers’ dispute 1995-98 exemplifies the type of environment many workers’ faced during the 1990s. The British experience provides a particularly relevant paradigm due to the specific interactions that developed between economic restructuring, political deregulatory processes and trade union responses after the 1979 election which saw Thatcher’s government embark upon a complete overhaul of this relationship. The Liverpool case brings together all those issues. The thesis draws on a wide range of materials, both oral and archival, which have been previously unstudied, presenting the first full- length academic study of the dispute and its background. The focus of the thesis examines how workers articulate solidarity in the new environment marked by economic restructuring and political deregulation. It does so by proposing three analytical categories: (1) economic restructuring and political regulatory processes, (2) trade union strategies and (3) workplace and community experience and popular historical memories. The thesis argues that the interaction between these three categories is what shaped the different political articulations of solidarity and their successes and failures, during the 1990s. The analysis of this interaction suggests that the organisational dynamics that developed during the dispute, exemplify a tension between centralising processes of trade unionism and searches for organisational autonomy by particular groups of workers. These dynamics are not necessarily specific to that period, but rather rooted in their remembered historical experience. Thus, a conceptualisation of the political articulation of solidarity as a contested arena can provide an indication of workers’ organisational capabilities in particular periods. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................... 2 List of illustrations ................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms and abbreviations ................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 10 Author’s declaration .............................................................................................. 12 Chapter 1. Introduction – workers’ organisational capacities in the 1990s .......... 13 Setting out the problem .................................................................................... 14 The race to the bottom – pessimistic accounts ................................................ 19 The resurfacing power of unions – optimistic accounts .................................. 24 National optimists – national trade union renewal thesis ................................ 26 International optimists – internationalism as the way to counteract global capital ............................................................................................................... 31 Old ghosts ........................................................................................................ 33 A conceptual and theoretical framework ......................................................... 38 Research strategy and methodology ................................................................ 40 An outline of the thesis .................................................................................... 41 Chapter 2. Economic restructuring and political deregulation in British ports in historical perspective ............................................................................................. 44 Economic restructuring in ports ....................................................................... 44 The political regulation of dock labour ........................................................... 52 Political deregulation ....................................................................................... 63 The abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme ....................................... 68 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 3. Political culture in Liverpool ............................................................... 72 Liverpool’s local politics ................................................................................. 74 Liverpool’s trade union identities .................................................................... 81 Ethnicity and sectarianism in Liverpool .......................................................... 85 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 93 Chapter 4. The Transport and General Workers Union since 1979. Strategies of renewal? ................................................................................................................. 94 The creation of the TGWU .............................................................................. 96 From Deakin to Jones ................................................................................ 101 Ron Todd: dealing with decline ..................................................................... 104 The promise of renewal – Bill Morris ........................................................... 108 Region 6 ..................................................................................................... 111 3 The TGWU and New Labour ........................................................................ 116 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 119 Chapter 5. Workplace conflict in the Port of Liverpool 1989-1995 ................... 121 Labour relations in the Port of Liverpool between 1945 and 1967 ............... 122 Labour relations 1967-1989 ........................................................................... 125 Changes in the organisation of work ............................................................. 132 Workplace conflict in the port of Liverpool 1990-1995 ................................ 135 Torside........................................................................................................ 135 The derecognition of port shop stewards in 1992 ...................................... 136 Origin of the 1995 dispute.......................................................................... 138 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 142 Chapter 6. The Liverpool dockers’ dispute 1995-98: the local dynamics ........... 143 The start of the dispute – September-November 1995 .................................. 143 First offer – October 1995 ............................................................................. 150 WoW – from the washing line to the picket line – November 1995 ............. 151 Second offer – January 1996 ......................................................................... 156 Bill Morris’ grandchildren – March 1996 ..................................................... 161 Red and Green should never be seen – September 1996 ............................... 164 John Pilger – November 1996 ....................................................................... 166 Third ‘final’ offer – November 1996 ............................................................. 168 The British left, the unions and the dockers – December 1996 ..................... 171 Great expectations – April/May 1997 ............................................................ 172 Labour Supply Organisation – 1997 negotiations ......................................... 174 Drake’s workforce – summer 1997 ............................................................... 177 The beginning of the end – how many Christmases can families survive in struggle? ......................................................................................................... 179 Chapter 7. Competing solidarities: the ITF, the TGWU and the Liverpool Dockers ................................................................................................................ 184 The ITF, the TGWU and the Liverpool Dockers – understanding the relationship .................................................................................................... 185 The need for internationalism ........................................................................ 188 The Flying Pickets ..................................................................................... 190 The first International Dockers’ Conference ................................................. 193 Second International Dockers’ Conference ................................................... 196 The European withdrawal .............................................................................. 199 When a relationship breaks down .................................................................. 201 4 International Day of Action – 20 January 1997 ............................................. 204 Conference season ......................................................................................... 205 Inter-union and intra-union communications ................................................ 206 International Day