Ports: in the background

There is a lot going on around the ports dispute, which is not public. We can be sure that Mr Brown's team is not idle, and that Mike Lee is busy, and that the CTU is in the frame. I have no doubt that discussions with central government at several levels are also in train. The pressure is on from many parties for a mediated or facilitated outcome, without recourse to management's threatened wholesale replacement of the workforce (a costly, difficult and often inefficient action).

Government may well want a different outcome. The Thatcher strategy of taking on key groups of workers sequentially is well-documented, and a defeat of MUNZ would set the scene for major new anti-union ER legislation. I hear that the replacement strategy is being investigated seriously by Mr Gibson, and that his board supports confrontation to the bitter end. Mr Brown cannot ignore this board-CEO position. He is politically responsible for them. The Right expect Mr Brown to cave on this. Will he prove them wrong?