Donaldson adjourns blacking case Court threat to stewards' credentials

BY OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT DAVID MAUDE WHEN adjourning contempt charges against the Transport and General Workers' Union yesterday, Court pesident Sir John Donaldson said he was disappointed the union had been unable to offer any corresponding adjournment of the industrial action at Liverpool.

Asked by Donaldson if he could help on the would make to adjourn industrial action, Mr for the T&GWU, replied: 'No, 1 am atraid I nelp you on that.' Donaldson went on to virtually Employment Secretary Maurice Macmillan should not be inhibited he said Donaldson refused the union's application for a ten-day adjournment and gave until next Tuesday, on the understanding that the evidence before the Court reached Pain by Friday morning.

Yesterday's hearing arose as a result of applications on Monday and Tuesday by Heatons Transport (St Helens) Ltd and Craddock Bros of Wolverhamptor, alleging that blacking of their vehicles had continued since the fines imposed on the T&GWU.

Earlier in the proceedings Donaldson said Court's orders were, on the face of it, still being disobeyed.

nower to stou Tre INTRO acked whether evidence would be produced showing that the union's dock ind road transport groups hac been called together and tha national officials had seen the dock shop stewards.

efforts the union Peter Pain, QC, am not able to invite the intervention of Tory Macmillan in the from taking 'immediate action', refuse to appoint new representatives, choose men of like mind to the present incumbents or vote in stewards who were even more radical.

There was a risk of the dispute spreading one can't control although everybody in the docks', would through its full-time officials, take steps to try to prevent the It would be idle to suggest that we can do that at Liverpool effectively, and it would be naïve to suggest that we could persuade them at this stage to reverse their policy.' But at other ports something may be done and 'we are quite prepared to do that'.

Asked whether he was attacking the principle of the Court's judgement or simply their application, Pain said it was the latter. He would want to examine the question of removing credentials against the background of the Liverpool docks, he said. Richard Yorke, Heatons' QC Removal would be 'contrary to industrial commonsense' and possibly unfair to the stewards themselves.

Pain's admission that he was challenging not the principle of the judgement but their application was crucial here, since this shifted the argument to what action should be taken over the powers of the shop stewards.

I shall be asking you to say that the shop stewards did not have the union's authority for their actions and that these circumstances do not put the union in contempt, he told The judgements given by the Court, he said, were open to two interpretations; that shop stewards' powers should be so limited that it was clear that they did not have the power to