At one point 16,000 dockers organised mobile pickets and closed the docks along the Thames. |
The dockers went on strike in July and pit deputies in the union threatened to strike in October. |
The cabinet was horrified when dockers blacked the jets destined for the military rulers. |
When the stewards were sentenced to three months' imprisonment, the industrial action spread to include dockers, who closed the port of Belfast. |
Business became so bad that many dockers lost their jobs and the number of ships sailing to and from British ports dwindled to almost nothing. |
Just five days after the strike began 15,000 railwaymen, and 8,000 dockers and carters were on strike. |