Uncertainty at the Docks
It is not to be imagined that the dockers were much chastened by the court of inquiry's interim report last week, which put the blame fair and square on the Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers, or by the complete absence of public sympathy and support, or by the assessments of the damage (say £50 millions' worth) their strike did the country. On the contrary, their leaders think they have won a famous victory. And so the situation in the docks remains a tense one. No sooner had the original strike been called off than a second, over lorry-drivers without union cards, threatened to prolong the chaos. And then, as soon as this had been disposed of, there was news that a third strike, involving seven thousand men, had flared up over the suspicion of victimisation. At the time of writing this had been called off, but the mood of uncertainty remains unchanged. The feeling persists that the London dockers are ready to strike again at the drop of a hat —even an imaginary hat. Can it be hoped that the Transport and General Workers' Union stands any chance' at all of bringing home to its members in the docks the folly of their past action and their present touchiness ? Mr. Arthur Deakin will have his work cut out to make much of an impression on the solid wall of incomprehension and suspicion and misunder- standing which stands between the rank and file and Transport House. But if he failed altogether, then the chances of the present negotiations leading to a genuine and workable agree- ment on the overtime provisions in the Dock Labour Scheme would be slender. In which case crisis, and chaos, would soon come again.
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