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(Pia Reference has already been made to the difficulties which arise from the fact that the National Board is mainly, and the Local Boards are wholly, made up of representatives of the Unions and employers concerned. An alternative method could be to change the constitution of the National and Local Boards by reducing the number of union and employer representatives, increasing the number of independent members of the National Board, and adding independent members to the Local Boards. (To make this more acceptable, it might be possible to select some of the independent members from panels nomi- nated by both sides.) Boards so constituted might be expected to reach quicker and firmer decisions on questions of policy, and be more ready to take decisive action.
(iii) The relations between the National and Local Boards might be re- examined. In particular it may be necessary to consider the relations between the National Board and the Local Boards on disciplinary matters. It is probably true to say that the present Boards have failed, not in minor disciplinary matters, but in the application of discipline to groups. With Boards constituted as in (ii) above, and with a properly controlled delegation to Local Boards, it may be hoped that discipline would be more likely to be secured.
(iv) The machinery for appeal from disciplinary action should be examined. There may be a case for imposing automatic sanctions for breaches of the scheme by registered dock workers. Under the present scheme, every registered worker is assumed to have accepted the obligations of the scheme and is required, if available for work, to carry out the directions of the Local Board and accept any employment in connec- tion with dock work for which he is considered suitable. When a registered dock worker is available for work and fails without adequate cause to comply with the conditions of the scheme, he loses entitlement to attendance money in respect of the appropriate pay- week and renders himself liable to suspension or dismissal by the Local Board, although there is a right of appeal to an Appeals Tri- bunal. These penalties do not seem sufficiently certain or drastic in the case of men who deliberately flout the scheme from which they benefit, and the scheme might be amended to provide for the automatic dismissal of any man who does not observe its provisions to the extent of refusing work for which he is available and suitable.
(v) It might help to bring about more settled conditions in the industry if there were an extension of the system under which dockers afe attached semi-permanently to a particular stevedoring employer as 'weekly workers." Such workers are registered with the National Dock Labour Board but have a guaranteed period of regular employ- ment with the employer concerned. At present they represent about 16 per cent. of the total registered dock labour force. The advantage of this system is that it gives the docker a greater sense of continuity in his work, and an extension of this arrangement might foster a spirit of loyalty to the employer. This is a proposal about which the Unions will probably be divided.
(vi) Another practice which seems to warrant encouragement is the volun- tary joining together of men in gangs who regularly work as a unit, though not necessarily for the same employer. This fosters team spirit and self-discipline, and is not open to the criticism sometimes made against the "weekly worker system that the men attached to particular stevedoring companies always get the most profitable and congenial jobs to do, leaving the unpopular jobs for the" daily men."
13. It will be seen that practically all the proposals set out above involve some change in the scheme which would require either the agreement of the two sides of the industry or, alternatively, fresh legislation to impose the suggested alteration in the machinery. I think they deserve examination and probably the best way of dealing with the matter would be for a working party representing the Ministries of Labour and Transport, the Board, the Employers and the Trade Unions, the British Transport Commission and independent Port Authorities to consider in detail these suggestions together with any other proposals which might begput 3fpryard and to endeavour to devise scheme off administration
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which wouldaginimise the besent causes of friction. Partagaratzenia would need to be given to the procedure for dealing with redundancy and the elimination of ineffective workers from the industry.
14. If, as a result of the deliberations of the working party, it is decided to make any modifications in organisation and procedure under the scheme, I recommend that any proposed change should be preceded by a propaganda cam- paign designed to explain that its purpose is to ensure that the scheme is worked honestly and effectively by both sides of the industry. In any such campaign we should need the fullest co-operation of the Trade Unions. The Union leaders would benefit themselves no less than the scheme by the restoration of the men's confidence in their leadership, especially if it could be made clear to the dock workers that they cannot indefinitely claim the benefits of the schemes without accepting its obligations.
Ministry of Transport, W. 1, 6th July, 1949.
A. B..