PICKETING (LIVERPOOL) (Hansard, 18 January 1979)

§ Mr. Steen

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the ruination of the port of Liverpool by unlawful picketing and its disastrous effect upon the future economy of the region. The survival of Liverpool has always depended upon its ability to run a thriving port. The wealth of the city and the welfare of the people are intertwined with the prosperity of the port. The present strike has already laid off 1,900 dockers as well as many support staff. This means that the dock and harbour company is having to pay out at least £60 per week in fall-back pay to each docker without work, and the company will soon find itself unable to continue making payments while receiving nothing in return.

The tragedy is that the port of Liverpool has made great strides forward in business revival over the last few years with the full co-operation of the dockers, who are now deeply outraged and concerned as they helplessly watch their livelihood slip away.

For the smaller, independent dock employer, the present situation may well spell bankruptcy. In London today a private company in business for many years, employing 500 stevedores, is going into liquidation, I am told, because of the catastrophic effect of illegal picketing. This could well sow the seeds for a national 2004 dock strike. The matter is therefore, of the utmost urgency.

The port of Liverpool is today at a standstill. It is in the stranglehold grip of massive, unlawful picketing. The situation deteriorates hour by hour. The dock entrances are barred, swarming with this new infestation of the colloquially termed "secondary pickets". The port has ground to a halt, savaged by strikes and strangled by pickets.

The matter is specific. No goods can get into the port. This means that thousands of companies in the massive hinterland behind the port, which includes the Midlands and the Lancashire industrial belt, are either having to stockpile products or lay off workers, or a combination of both.

British companies are unable to fulfil their contractual dates for delivery and companies overseas arc picking up new business at our expense. This must affect the balance of payments, nationwide. Ships bound for Liverpool are being diverted to Continental ports and business will be permanently lost from Merseyside in both the short term and the long term as suppliers lose confidence that the port can reliably handle their cargoes.

Liverpool is set on a suicidal course with the major plank of the Government programme—the rejuvenation of the inner cities—in ruins. The matter is specific. urgent and of the utmost importance.