All Wrong at the Docks
Some of the problems which have led to repeated unofficial strikes at the London Docks will take a long time to disappear. The Committee of Inquiry which has just reported has shown that in the very nature of the case, with the main groups of docks scattered along the Thames and with an enormous variety of cargoes having to be handled, there is no quick solution to the basic problems of organisation. It has also given a description of the mercurial and larg,ely irrational behaviour of the port workers -which confirms the commonsense impression that what many London dockers lack is a sense of responsibility to the community, as distinct from loyalty to each other. There is no short answer to these problems either. But as to the Dock Labour Scheme, the Transport and General Workers' Union, the curious procedure whereby discipline is supposed to be maintained, and the almost complete absence of welfare arrangements the right answers are not only short but sharp. The aim of the Dock Labour Scheme-to end the evils of the old casual labour system —is sound. The machinery which it employs is ramshackle. The T.G.W.U. has shown little sign of being able to cope with the specialised problems of the London Docks, and no ability to stop the mischief-making of the Portworkers' Committee. The disciplinary arrangements which sometimes cast trade union officials as judges and counsel at the same time, have only to be described for their absurdity to be exposed. The position about welfare arrangements is disgraceful. It is not surprising that nearly all of the frequent unofficial strikes degenerate into a tangle of obscure grievances which the miscellaneous " authori- ties ' concerned are unable to sort out. What is surprising la that this mess has been allowed to persist for so long.
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