Magistrates' Courts
| Published date | 01 April 1973 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201837303700202 |
| Date | 01 April 1973 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Magistrates' Courts
INDUSTRIAL
DISPUTE
WHEN the five dockers who were the first persons to be
imprisoned
under
the Industrial Relations Act, 1971, were
released from Pentonville Prison an assorted range of assemblies
were held up
and
down the country in celebration.
One
such
assemblage mustered
at
the traditional focal point of London
dockers,
Tower
Hill. At this meeting it was resolved in the euphoria
of the occasion to make a show of solidarity with pickets involved
in another industrial dispute taking place in the near neighbourhood
over the
water
in Southwark.
These pickets were stationed outside a firm which was a
creditor of a printing company where a
"work
in" was taking place
because
the
jobs of the pickets
and
the printing operatives they
represented were in jeopardy.
The
crowd at
Tower
Hill, variously
estimated
but
approximately five
hundred
in number, marched
over
Tower
Bridge in accordance with its resolution
and
down
Tower
Bridge Road, escorted by
attendant
policemen
and
small
boys,
and
congregated outside the factory gates.
Representatives addressed the gathering over a loud hailer.
Aphotographer taking pictures from a balcony was told to go away
and
the
cry was taken up by the crowd. Delegates were sent in
to
meet
the management
and
certain terms were negotiated. At
this stage the crowd was reasonably content. When the written
terms were
brought
out
and
read it was stated
that
they did not
accord
with
the
written agreement.
Further
negotiations were
sought with a police officer acting as go-between
but
the manage-
ment
refused to see more
than
three delegates whereas
the
Chair-
man
of
the
fathers insisted on sending the six delegates who were
the father representatives of the six chapels who
had
been accepted
before.
On
this issue impasse was reached.
At this
juncture
the gordian knot was
cut
by the police
announcing
that
they wanted the road cleared because it was near
going home time
at
the factory, the road outside was completely
obstructed
and
people were in fear.
There
was a conflict in the
evidence as to
the
amount
of advance warning given
but
the police
with reserves moved in
and
with linked arms pushed
the
crowd
out
of
the
street
and
also off a piece of adjacent waste ground.
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