Liverpool dockers continue dispute

Liverpool dockers dismissed for refusing to cross picket lines have overwhelmingly rejected an offer to end the bitter five-month dispute. In a postal ballot they voted by 271 to 50 against a proposed settlement which would have cost the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company between pounds 7m and pounds 8m, writes Barry Clement.

The company had offered to re-employ 40 of the 320 sacked port workers and pay up to pounds 25,000 compensation to the rest. The proposal had been worked out in talks with Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport Union. "I hope the company will take heed of the vote and seek to resolve the dispute," he said.