The Liverpool Dockers' dispute between dockers and their employers, Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) and Torside Ltd, in Liverpool, England, lasted from 1995 to 1998. 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.

Various celebrities and high-profile figures, including footballer Robbie Fowler and singer Noel Gallagher, expressed and showed their support during the dispute, either through public awareness or financial support. Despite the election success of a Labour government in 1997, this did not help towards ending the dispute, given the new administration failed to reverse anti-trade union legislation enacted by the former Conservative administration.

The media's reaction to the dispute was unenthusiastic – the BBC's political correspondent for Liverpool suggested that editors did not find the story appealing while other organisations portrayed the dockers as dinosaurs. The British tabloid press did not start to cover the dispute until the international press became aware via communication over the Internet, which had been used by dockers to engage with worldwide trade unions.

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 before 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.

Background At the heart of the dispute was a belief that Mersey Docks were seeking to reintroduce a casual workforce. The National Dock Labour Scheme had been established in 1947, responsible for defining workers' rights, payment and training within a national dockers register; a National Dock Labour Board was also set up, comprising representatives from the unions and employers in equal measure, although in doing so afforded unions significant control over recruitment. The scheme, which had protected employment terms and conditions as well as wages and benefits, was abolished in 1989, a decision which was opposed by unions who called a national dock strike against the abolition, yet was defeated and followed with many dock unions becoming derecognised. Liverpool was the last port to cease strike action against the dispute. Prior to the scheme's dissolution, dockers had described going to work as "a real pleasure" in a "more relaxed atmosphere", although hard work was still expected and earnings had to be fought for. Following the scheme's abolishment, Mersey Docks assured dockers that casual labour would not return to the docklands and continued, albeit alone amongst ports across Britain, to recognise the dockers' union.

An aggressive stance was adopted by Mersey Docks towards its relations with the dockers, with regulations being introduced towards the end of the 1980s requiring dockers to be available for work at all times, including days off. Dockworkers saw their living standards and income gradually eroded in order to ensure that trade union relations with dock companies remained cost-effective. From 1983 to 1989, docker numbers nationally fell to 9,400 from 14,631, while the tonnage workload that each docker handled increased three-fold.

As dockers retired, their jobs were typically replaced by sub-contracted workers under different working conditions, typically with Torside Limited. Between 1989 and 1992, around 80% of dockers left the industry, while the number of employees between 1989 and 1995 fell by over half, from 1,100 to 500. Although docker numbers decreased, the volumes handled by the port were increasing, from around 20 million tonnes in 1988 to over 30 million tonnes in 1997. The number of Liverpool dockers employed during the 1960s was 12,000, yet this had dropped to 6,000 by 1980. Workers wanting to enter the dock trade, often the sons of established dockers, had to do so via sub-contracted firms due to the lack of jobs available. The conditions of these jobs would ultimately create the conditions that resulted in the dispute.

In 1993, Mersey Docks worked towards imposing harsher employment contracts, including more working hours that required dockers to be available "at any time", knowing it would be rejected by the dockers and their union alike. To ensure dockers accepted the revised contracts, Mersey Docks advertised new jobs locally, receiving thousands of applications and interviewing many, yet no single individual was employed on a permanent basis. In a state of confusion and apprehension, dockers accepted the new contracts, despite initially rejecting them outright. From this period through to the start of the dispute, individual dock workers were harassed and intimidated for various reasons and by 1995, 170 faced disciplinary proceedings. Many of the dockers felt their lives were restricted by the unstructured working hours, which may have involved little-to-no notice requirement to work during the night. Surveys of the time showed that the new procedures were taking their toll on the workforce and affecting morale, while over 85% were concerned about the longer working hours. Of those surveyed, over half felt that standards of health and safety were severely compromised, as rates of accidents increased.

Events Dispute origins On 25 September 1995, sub-contractor Torside Limited were in dispute with its workers regarding overtime pay, resulting in five employees being dismissed. The sacked dockers formed a picket line which fellow Torside dockers refused to cross, ultimately resulting in the company dismissing all 80 of its workforce. Dockers directly employed by Mersey Docks similarly refused to cross the picket line in support of their fellow dockers. After three days, Mersey Docks declared that the dockers had dismissed themselves by not crossing the picket line, resulting in 300 of the 380 strong work force being dismissed for breach of contract. Labour laws passed by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Employment Act 1980, made it illegal to take part in secondary action, except in limited circumstances. The Employment Act 1990 made the limited circumstances also unlawful and unions could be taken to court if they organised secondary actions. While picketing, dockers were surrounded by police and private security guards, yet stood firm, buoyed by support from celebrities such as musicians and footballers, defying Mersey Docks' strategy of waiting until the pickets diminished.

Within the first few weeks of the dispute, local parliamentary representatives met with Mersey Docks to consider a progressive solution and attempted to instill the importance of what it meant to dockers and their families alike. Robert Parry, Member of Parliament for Liverpool Riverside, was inundated with letters from dockers and their families who were astonished and bewildered at the thought of being unemployed. In October 1995, Member of Parliament for Liverpool Garston Eddie Loyden gave a speech in the House of Commons, in which he said:

It is 1995, and we are returning to the dark days of threatened casualisation. I believe that that is a serious threat. I believe that people are entitled to work with dignity under conditions that are human, and to be part of the process of developing the industry in the way that they have. At one time, the dockers were the butt of the jokes of some poor comedians, but they themselves have a sense of humour that no one can match and they are men, in that sense, who are proud to be dockers. They are proud of the work they do and proud of the port in which they work, and so are their families and friends and their communities.

Some dockers were offered new contracts, subject to alteration by the Mersey Docks. As a ballot had not been held, the union declared the strike action to be unofficial, meaning the strikers were in breach of contract with Mersey Docks. Mersey Docks terminated contracts and advertised for replacement labour within 24 hours, at lower rates of pay and under different conditions. An offer was made by Mersey Docks the following month for £10,000 per docker, which was rejected. Lloyd's List had previously described the dockers as "the most productive workforce in Europe".

Support and public campaign

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. The timing of the dispute coincided with the emergence of the World Wide Web, with dockers among the first to embrace the technology to communicate their plight beyond the national media. After 14 months, the dispute had been running longer than the miners' strike of 1984–85.

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. Organised workers were generally unwilling to take solidarity action through fear of victimisation, with bitter defeats such as that of the 1985 miner's strike still fresh in memory. A Mersey Docks spokesman suggested in July 1996 that the dispute was "winding down", claiming the new workforce were 30–40 per cent more productive. Around this time, dockers rejected an offer via postal ballot to reinstate 40 jobs, with a pay-off settlement of £25,000 () offered for the rest of the sacked workforce.

A T-shirt was designed and printed in September 1996 as part of a public campaign to bring attention to the strike by incorporating the Calvin Klein "CK" into the word "doCKer" with the words "500 Liverpool dockers sacked since September 1995". The T-shirt was worn by some celebrities, most famously by Robbie Fowler during a goal celebration while playing for Liverpool. Some shirts, costing £5 each, were sold at music gigs and in total reached sales of nearly 50,000 and helped towards the family hardship fund.

Latter stages

Mersey Docks' then chief executive, Trevor Furlong, suggested talks towards reaching a settlement were ongoing in February 1997, although suggested the resistance from dockers in not holding a secret ballot was hindering progress talks. Hopes of a resolution were high upon the election of Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997 given the government's 14% financial share in Mersey Docks, although the dockers were unaware that the new government would seek to retain previous economic policies and offer no help towards resolving the dispute.

The country's trade union establishment made its expression of contempt clear during the 1997 Trades Union Congress annual conference, suggesting the only place for dockers who had sought support of trade unionists worldwide was "on the pavement outside the hall, with a collection bucket". The Transport and General Workers' Union biennial conference in July 1997 called upon the new Labour government to intervene and support efforts to reinstate sacked dockworkers, but the government failed to offer any support.