MERSEY DOCKS DISPUTE (UK)

For two years in the middle of the 1990s, 500 dockworkers were locked out by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company of Liverpool.

In the course of those long months, their inspiring fight against the casualisation of working conditions has raised a wide range of questions about the changing balance of forces between workers and capital, the nature of unionism, and the practical meaning of internationalism.

Dave Graham was active in Liverpool supporting the dockers throughout their dispute. More than this, he has provided a blow-by-blow assessment of both the conflict itself, and its broader significance:

Dockers 1 (9 November 1995)

Dockers 2 (30 November 1995)

Dockers 3 (19 December 1995)

Dockers 4 (February 1996)

Dockers 5 (8 March 1996)

Dockers 6 (7 May 1996)

Dockers 7 (31 May 1996)

Dockers 8 (July 1996)

Dockers 9 (September 1996)

Dockers 9 Again

Casualisation (February 1996)

Conference Report (13-17 February 1996)

Letter to the Dockers Charter (February 1996)

ICP and the Dockers

Dockers June 1997

Dockers July 1997

Dave Graham can be contacted at davgraham@hotmail.com

Other texts of related interest can be found here

News and documents from the dockers' struggle can be found at the Liverpool Lockout - Home Page.