Drastic Reduction in Number of Dock Firms

The scan: The Week v6 no17.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

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from a London reader One of the things envisaged in the Devlin Report: a great reduction in the number of dock and stevedoring firms is coming about. The idea behind this is that it will help to concentrate labour and impose "discipline" on the dockers. & large-scale reduction in the number of dock and stevedoring firms in the Port of London's enclosed docks has already taken place ahead of the new national licensing system which comes into operation after December 1, Over the nast year the number of employers of labour in the enclosed dock has been reduced from over 30 to nine. This has come about by voluntary mergers and associations between existing companies. The licensing authorities will decide applications on the basis of an applicant's ability to manage his business efficiently and provide adequate equipment, the ability to employ a reasonable quota of the labour force and to avoid excessive temporary transfer of his workers to other employers.