Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.242
Object Name
T-Shirt
Title
500 Liverpool Dockers Sacked since September 1995 t-shirt
Place
Liverpool
People
Robbie Fowler
Date
1995
Description
Large cotton red t-shirt. There is white text in the centre of the t-shirt, saying "500 Liverpool Dockers sacked since September 1995." The "CK" in "dockers" has been capitalised, with a very large K. This is very similar to the Calvin Klein logo, which may have been intentional. The Liverpool Dockers' dispute was a lengthy dispute between dockers, their employers Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) and Torside Ltd, which lasted for twenty-eight months between 1995 and 1998 in Liverpool, England. Although considered a strike, it was strictly a lockout as the employers, Mersey Docks, sacked the dockers for breach of contract when they refused to cross a picket line set up by their sacked Torside Limited colleagues. Initially, five Torside workers were dismissed following a dispute regarding overtime pay, who in turn formed a picket line that other dockers refused to cross in solidarity.The dockers had previously been described by Lloyd's List as "the most productive workforce in Europe". The dispute was never officially recognised by their union due to a ballot not being undertaken prior to the walkout, although the union did offer support financially and helped towards settlement negotiations. Various settlement offers were made by Mersey Docks and subsequently rejected by the dockers during the course of the dispute. By the time a settlement was negotiated and accepted in 1998, the conflict had become one of the longest disputes in labour history. Within 3 months, Transport and General Workers' Union leader Bill Morris expressed a desire to support the dockers by voting to establish a hardship fund and welcomed promises by foreign unions to boycott ships using the Merseyside terminals. In December 1995, three sacked dockers formed a picket line in New York which local workers refused to cross.Throughout the dispute, dockers waged a high-profile public campaign for their reinstatement and allied with dockers worldwide and support groups such as Reclaim the Streets.
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