Dock Work Regulation Act 1976
Dock Work RegulationAct 1976
1976 CHAPTER 79
An Act to reconstitute the National Dock Labour Board and make further provision for regulating the allocation and performance of the work of cargo-handling in and about the ports of Great Britain.
[22nd November 1976]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The National Dock Labour Board
1 Reconstitution of Board as body corporate.
(1) On the appointed day the National Dock Labour Board constituted under the Dock Workers Employment Scheme 1967 is dissolved by virtue of this Act; and on that day there shall come into being a body corporate bearing the same name and having functions conferred by or under this Act.
(2) The new Board shall consist of a chairman, a vice chairman and twelve other members, all appointed by the Secretary of State.
(3) Of those other members eight shall be so appointed on the nomination or re-nomination of the National Joint Council for the Port Transport Industry, four being appointed to represent dock employers and four to represent dock workers.
(4) The remaining four members of the Board, and the chairman and vice-chairman, shall be appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with the National Joint Council, the Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry.
(5) Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act has effect with respect to the National Dock Labour Board, its members, staff and administration; and Part II of that Schedule has effect with respect to the transfer of functions, property, etc. from the old Board to the new.
(6) Where an enactment or instrument (statutory or other) passed or made before the appointed day refers to the National Dock Labour Board, it is to be read as referring, as from that day, to the new Board and not the old, except where the context otherwise requires.
2 General duty of the Board.
(1) The Board, having regard to the public interest, shall keep under review such economic and industrial developments as appear to them to affect, or be likely to affect, the performance of work classified under this Act as dock work.
(2) In the light of those developments they shall consider—
(a ) whether current classifications are satisfactory and, if not, the respects in which they could with advantage be altered;
(b ) what (if any) measures should be taken for improving co-operation between dock employers and dock workers and thereby the efficiency with which such work is performed.
(3) They shall also keep under review—
(a ) the extent to which the skills, aptitudes and experience of dock workers are adequately deployed, having regard to the amount of such work that is available; and
(b ) the need (if any) to adjust the strength and disposition of the labour force;
and they shall submit to the Secretary of State from time to time reports and proposals for action.
(4) In formulating any such proposal, the Board shall examine—
(a ) methods of recruitment and training;
(b ) in so far as they are of opinion that the labour force exceeds the foreseeable requirement, the ways in which it can be reduced or re-deployed, or other changes can be implemented, without avoidable hardship to the workers concerned; and
(c ) the probable cost to employers of implementing the proposal.
(5) In respect of the matters mentioned above in this section, and cognate matters, the Board shall maintain regular consultation with the National Ports Council, and with others appearing to the Board to be concerned.
(6) The Board are responsible for advising the Secretary of State from time to time in respect of those matters, as and when he may seek such advice or the Board think any aspect of them ought to be drawn to his attention; and the Board shall also make their advice available to other persons appearing to them to have an interest.
3 Finances of the Board.
(1) The Board may borrow such sums as they require for performing their functions—
(a ) from the Secretary of State; or
(b ) with the consent of the Secretary of State, or in accordance with any general authority given by him, from other persons;
and the Board shall not borrow money otherwise than under this subsection.
(2) The aggregate amount outstanding by way of principal of—
(a ) money borrowed by the old Board for which the new Board is liable; and
(b ) money borrowed by the new Board under this section,
shall not exceed 10 million or such greater amount not exceeding 30 million as may be specified by order of the Secretary of State; and no such order shall be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before the House of Commons and approved by resolution of that House.
(3) The Secretary of State may lend to the Board any sums which they have power to borrow, and any such loans shall be repaid by the Board at such times, and in such manner, and interest on the loans shall be paid at such rates and at such times, as he may from time to time direct.
(4) The Secretary of State may make such grants to the Board towards their expenses in pursuance of sections 6 to 10 of this Act (reports and recommendations on classification) as he may determine.
(5) Anything done by the Secretary of State under this section requires the Treasury's approval.
New Dock Labour Scheme
4 Secretary of State to prepare new Scheme.
(1) The Secretary of State shall as soon as may be—
(a ) prepare in draft, with a view to its being brought into force area by area, a new Dock Labour Scheme to replace the 1967 Scheme;
(b ) publish notice that the draft Scheme has been prepared, informing persons interested where they can obtain copies of the draft and giving them at least sixty days in which to make representations to him about it; and
(c ) after making such alterations (if any) as he thinks expedient in the light of representations so made, lay the draft before Parliament.
(2) If the draft Scheme is approved by a resolution of each House, the Secretary of State may make orders bringing it into force (in the form of the draft) for areas designated by the orders, which areas are then to be known as dock labour scheme areas; but the whole of any area so designated must be comprised within a definable dock area.
(3) A definable dock area shall comprise any place in Great Britain which is within half a mile (in a direct line) of a harbour to which this Act applies or of the nearest harbour land adjacent to such a harbour.
(4) For the purposes of this section, ‘harbour’ and ‘harbour land’ have the meanings assigned to them by section 57 of the Harbours Act 1964 .
(5) Any premises as to which the Board has reported under section 6 of this Act that work done there is dock work for the purposes of the 1967 Scheme as it applies in any port, or is so treated by custom and practice, are to be treated as part of the definable dock area which includes that port, if not otherwise falling to be so treated under subsection (3) above.
(6) The Secretary of State may, if it appears to him necessary in the light of local circumstances affecting any particular definable dock area, by order extend that area (or, having made in relation to it any one or more previous orders under this subsection, further extend it) by directing the addition to it of any contiguous area.
(7) An order shall not be made under subsection (6) in relation to a definable dock area unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.
(8) Schedule 2 to this Act has effect as to the steps which are to be taken by the Secretary of State before making an order under subsection (6) of this section; and where an order under the subsection is laid before Parliament in draft for the purposes of subsection (7) there shall be laid with it—
(a ) a statement by the Secretary of State certifying that Schedule 2 has been complied with; and
(b ) where a public inquiry has been held, a copy of any report and recommendation made by the person who held the inquiry.
5 Objects of the new Scheme.
(1) Subject to this section, the new Scheme may provide for any of the matters specified in Schedule 3 to this Act.
(2) The Secretary of State shall frame the Scheme with a view—
(a ) to securing stability of employment for dock workers and the creation and maintenance of a permanent labour force of a size and composition appropriate for the efficient performance of dock work; and
(b ) to securing that, wherever the Scheme is in force and subject only to such exceptions as it may provide, dock work is done by registered dock workers and not otherwise.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above and for those of the new Scheme as it has effect in any area, ‘dock work’ means the work of individuals (whether or not they are employed by an employer to do it) which, by reference to its description and the premises where it is done, is classified as dock work by an order made by the Secretary of State under section 11 of this Act and for the time being in force.
(4) The work that may be classified is any which—
(a ) is done or to be done at premises in a definable dock area and is within Part I of Schedule 4 to this Act and not within Part II of that Schedule; or
(b ) whether or not falling within paragraph (a ) above, is reported by the...
To continue reading
Request your trial