It is an outrage that the Labour government has done nothing to intervene on the side of strikers in the mounting array of long standing disputes.
Those workers that have stuck out long days and bitter nights on the picket line deserve solidarity from the whole labour movement.
The Magnet strike 'celebrated' its first anniversary on with a demonstration through rainswept Darlington on August 23. Hundreds of activists from across the country marched behind dozens of colourful trade union banners in an impressive show of support for the determined workforce.
They and many others also participated in the two weeks of action with pickets of Magnet showrooms country wide before and after the demonstration itself.
The mood on August 23 was sharpened by two vicious attacks on the strikers the preceding day. On the evening of Friday 22 a scab drove his car out of the plant at a young boy on the picket line who fortunately was not seriously hurt.
There is no doubt that this was a deliberate attempt to intimidate the strikers and their supporters by any means necessary. It follows an earlier attack on adult pickets by thugs with iron bars who also burnt down much of the strikers camp.
Despicable as these assaults are, far worse is the behaviour of the local MP Alan Milburn who also attacked the picket - this time on television. Milburn, together with Tony Blair, who also has strikers in his constituency, has never visited the picket line or intervened on the side of the strikers.
This time he went one 'better'. Interviewed in a news feature in which the strikers were able to put their case eloquently, he explained that he would not be joining the picket line as it was a 'futile exercise'.
Not surprisingly the strikers and their supporters were more inclined to listen to Arthur Scargill who pointed out that there was an easy way for Labour to end the dispute - by nationalising the plant and allowing it to be run by the sacked workers.
While John Edmonds of the GMB claimed at the rally that his union was full square behind the dispute, his calls for Labour to ensure an 'honourable' settlement are clearly open to wide interpretation.
This suspicion is strengthened by the fact that Edmonds claimed that the union had submitted a motion to Labour Party Conference which called for explicit support for the dispute and for the sacking of strikers to be made illegal. Perusal of the resolution booklet, however, does not bear out his claims.
The demonstration saw hot sales of Dockers T-shirts and activists planning to meet up again at the second anniversary demonstration on September 27 in Liverpool - if of course they did not coincide sooner.
As the Dockers' strike moves ominously close to the beginning of its third year there is little sign that either the Labour leadership or Bill Morris are going to come to their aid. It is good to hear that the Dockers seem to be considering putting more energy into pressurising the leadership of the T&G to step up support - they have been left off the hook for far to long.
The anniversary demonstration and its preparations are more likely to receive a boost from the next International Day of Action planned for September 8, which looks set to be just as impressive as previous ones.
In January this year for example, US longshoremen shut down all major US West coast ports for between 8 and 24 hours, and other industrial action stretched across 27 countries.
The biggest news on this occasion is the decision of the South African TGWU, part of the COSATU federation, to impose a permanent boycott of fruit imported through Sheerness in solidarity with the dockers.
South African dockers remember the blockade of South African and Namibian uranium at the Port of Liverpool in 1988 before the abolition of the UK National Dock Labour scheme.
Oranges and other citrus fruits marked Capespan land in the UK at Sheerness which is 100 per cent owned and operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company through Medway Ports Ltd.
A twenty year contract to handle Capespan imports was recently announced by Mersey Docks. According to Medway Ports, fresh produce represents over a third of activity at the Port of Sheerness. Mersey Docks has invested over £17 million to upgrade facilities at the port.
The Liverpool strike is not the only dispute nearing its second birthday. Sacked workers at Hillingdon hospital in West London are also planning a day of action on October 1 to mark their long two years on the picket line.
If Magnet workers have received official backing but little action and the Liverpool strike has remained unofficial since day one, these strikers are in a different position.
After the Hillingdon workers turned down an offer from management their union, UNISON, withdrew official support, without even a ballot of the women.
Scandalous as this was, the failure of UNISON's national conference in June to reinstate official backing means that, however bitter a pill this undoubtedly is, it is difficult to see any way the dispute can now be won.
This is not to criticise the courage and determination of the strikers, but an appraisal of the balance of forces in the movement as a whole and in UNISON itself.
Socialists have a duty to do everything in their power to build what ever solidarity they can - industrially and politically - with those in dispute. We need to strain every nerve to ensure that where victory is achievable it is attained and soon.
We want to ensure that the words of the song come true - 'You'll never walk alone!' The movement as a whole owes a debt to all these workers and to those in other disputes such as Project Aerospace and Critchley Labels. They have kept the flame of struggle alive when those at the top of the labour movement - be it in the trade unions or Blair's New Labour Party have pronounced it dead.