Three more ports continue blacking NATIONAL DOCK STRIKE IS NEARER

DOCKERS at three major ports—Liverpool, Manchester and Preston-yesterday joined Hull in rejecting a union appeal to stop the blacking of container traffic. Monty recent the SLL CORRESPONDENT SPECIAL FEATURES HIS WEEK TODAY Centre pages James Reid is the most remarkable product of modern Stalinism. He has received praise from the entire capitaist media who hail him as a new kind of workers' leader. What is the root of this adulation?

Stephen Johns ex amines 'The Gospel Accor ting to James Reid' on our centre pages.

TODAY

'Case historu of a Stalinist history of a humbug man in question is Johnstone whose distortions about and YS are taken up by TOMORROW From the Cabinet re cords, a study of how the i "ories planned to smash Hunger Marches in 1930s SATURDAY Angela Davis: ecial correspon orts from the ti in San José These shouts of defiance from the rank and file mean that a confrontation between the dockers and the government now virtually unavoidable.

Too much is at stake the Tory government: • They must make transport of goods to Europe cheaper and more efficient in preparation for their headlong drive into the Common Market. If this means mass unemployment the docks, the Tories think this is a cheap price to pay. • The Tories have to establish the supremacy of their Industrial Relations . Act and its legal Frankenstein, the National Industrial Relations Court.

The Court has decreed blacking is illegal. Those who oppose this will be fined and, if necessary, jailed. There is no compromise possible with a High Court-as Sir John Donaldson, the Court president, has made abundantly clear.

As the three ports yesterday rebuffed the Tory Courts and union policy, the national docks secretary of the Transport and LEADERS Of BOAC's 3,000 stewards and stewardesses yesterday called for a strike on July 17. At the same time 4,500 engineers and maintenance men were called to attend a mass meeting on Friday, which is expected to endorse strike action on May 3l.

General Workers' Union, Tim O'Leary, held 'crisis' talks in London with port employers in an attempt to prevent the national docks strike called for June 4.

Earlier, T&GWU general secretary Jack Jones had said:

'I hope in the interests of the nation we find something to satisfy our membership without having to strike. But it looks very dismal at the moment.' At Liverpool yesterday, docks district secretary Lew Lloyd, spent more than two hours with the port's shop stewards 'urging them to end the blacking and obey the Court's policy. • He announced afterwards. that while the shop stewards appreciated the position the union was in, they were firm in their resolve to continue the blacking.

Three firms-Heatons Transport (St Helens) Limited, Craddock Brothers of Wolverhampton and Bishop's Wharf of Warrington-are blacked on Merseyside.

The union has already paid £55,000 fines for contempt of the permanent order against it. In Manchester, 1,100 dockers voted overwhelmingly at a mass meeting to continue the threeweek blacking of two firms in Dockers picket cold store LONDON dockers are maintaining a constant picket on two container firms in Essex. They are turning away lorries which try to enter the gates and support so far has been described as 'very responsive'.

Leaflets handed out by the pickets say: "Workers of the Port of London are in dispute with this company. the area which handle containers.

At the 40-minute meeting, Denis Mahoney, the union's regional docks group secretary, called for the blacking to end. At Preston 250 dockers listened to Tommy Irvin, the T&GWU district organizer, as he read from a prepared statement:

•Blacking firms indiscriminately is causing the firms no loss yet our members-in relation to the National Industrial Relations Corecaline finones the opposition' to the Act when it was first introduced late in 1970, the Preston men remained silent.

When a vote was taken after only 20 minutes, two hands were raised in support of the union leadership.

One shop steward who spoke to Workers Press after the meeting said: 'It is now clear that it Take note. Crossing this picket line will involve your company • in this Another says: 'Contrary to the pen hooligans of Fleet St, also the glamour boys of TV fame, dockers are only seeking to protect that work which has been traditionally theirs since the first Phoenician traders came to this • SEE SPEECHES p.. 12.

country.

In the past decade we have had the growth of containerization, bulk carriers, lighter-aboardship and air freight.

This multiple development has led to huge economies in the use of traditional labour. "Thousands of workers-clerks, engineers, lorry drivers, dock workers, • plus many is registered dock workers put the black on and it is registered dock workers who will take it off.' Next week will be a flashpoin in the trade union movement: th agenda and so will the result? agenda the railwaymen's ballot. Th result is certain to be overwhelm ingly for industrial action.

The government has deliber ately engineered this confronta tion with the unions. And tha is what formed the central dis cussion at last Monday's secre summit talks at Chequers, th Prime Minister's country resdence.

Although no official communi qué was released, it is knowi that the ministers and thei advisers discussed the introduc tion of a state of emergency ti beat the strikers. auxiliary workı have been mad redundant. For this reason dockers feel highly incensed?

The firms being blacked are UK Cold Store and Dagenham Storage Company. Chief executive of UK Cold Store is George Tonge, who is also a leading port boss and member of the PLA.