Dock Work Regulation Act 1976

New Dock Labour Scheme

4Secretary 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 [1964 c. 40.] 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 the 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.

5Objects 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 Board to the Secretary of State under section 6 below as having been dock work for the purposes of the 1967 Scheme or been so treated by custom and practice.

(5)Any dock workers' registers established by the Scheme may comprise both main registers and extension registers, and dock workers may under the Scheme be treated differently according to whether they are registered in the one kind of register or in the other; but the Scheme shall not include provision as to the circumstances in which, in the case of a dock worker on an extension register, his employment can be terminated, or as to his rights on termination of employment.

(6)The Scheme shall not impose any obligations on dock employers who do not employ workers on classified work.

(7)In respect of any of the matters specified in paragraphs 1 to 3 of Schedule 3 to this Act, the Scheme may require dock employers and dock workers to accept obligations arising under a specified collective agreement (as for the time being in force) although not themselves parties to the agreement; but this is subject to subsection (8) below.

(8)The Scheme shall not include any provision on the following matters—

(a)the membership or non-membership on the part of a worker of a trade union or of any particular trade union;

(b)the recognition of trade unions by employers or employers' associations, or any other matter connected with machinery for collective bargaining ;

and where an employer recognises an independent trade union in respect of workers of his and there is a collective agreement, negotiated by him or on his behalf, with one or more trade unions including that trade union, which contains provisions regulating the terms and conditions of employment of those workers as to any of the matters mentioned in paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to this Act, nothing in the Scheme shall have the effect of requiring that employer to observe, in place of those provisions, the provisions of any other collective agreement.

(9)Without prejudice to the above, the Scheme may—

(a)include such incidental, transitional and commencement provisions as the Secretary of State thinks expedient; and

(b)contain different provisions for different circumstances and combinations of circumstances.

(10)The Secretary of State may from time to time make orders amending the new Scheme (either generally or in relation to one or more dock labour scheme areas), or altering the boundaries of any such area; and the powers of this section include power to consolidate the whole or any part of the Scheme as amended (with transitional provisions and savings, if any).

(11)Where the Secretary of State has it in mind to make an order under subsection (10) above, he shall publish notice as to the proposed content of the order, 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 the order shall not be made unless a draft of it has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.