The dockworkers union with its militancy and model of internal democracy is posing a clear alternative to the bureaucratised ways of operating of the major unions. They are subjected to smear campaigns and vilification on a regular basis, and the upcoming strike was expected to be a bitter one, a fight against all odds.
But at the last minute the strike was called off and the dock workers union reported that they now have reached a general agreement for the first time in their 47 year long history!
The harbour conflict has been used as the sole motivation for a new law severely restrikting the right to strike for smaller unions. Hopefully the victory of the dock workers will now be used to stop this law proposal.