The Liverpool dockers’ lockout began in September 1995, but the roots of the strike go back much further. Dockers have always had to fight for decent working conditions but saw many of their gains lost when the National Dock Labour Scheme was abolished in 1989. In the ensuing strike, 600 jobs were lost in the Mersey ports, but Liverpool alone among British ports successfully resisted the introduction of part-time casual work.
     
During the early 1990s, the company Torside Limited took on 80 men on different terms to other dockers. In September 1995 Torside broke an agreement, sacking five men. The rest of the dockers refused to cross the picket line and were locked out.
     
Casualisation was "a change that we knew had to come to us one day," says Mike Harden, a former docker. "They used the younger workforce as a catalyst, and imposed annualised hours with the union - if you're busy, bring the workers in, if not send them home. You can't plan anything, not even a social life. The managers were incompetent; their demands became more extreme, even the most conscientious workers were balking. Productivity was high, and there was no need."

The idea for the resource centre came just before the end of the strike, when the dockers had to face the possibility that they wouldn't get their jobs back. "There were political groups who wanted to do projects with us, interviewing workers about who do you blame, but do you want to continue forever prolonging people's misery?" asked Jimmy Davies jr., a former member of the strike committee. "We wanted something positive to come out of the dispute."
    
 "Initially we set up a co-operative for training people under 50 - everyone over 50 got a pension. But since then the labour supply side has taken a back seat, and we've started running courses like training 25 ex-dockers in computer skills. We’re making a film as well – it’s a beg, steal or borrow job, which we’re going to fund by selling 300 shares at £10 a share, a dark moody thriller called ‘A Shot in the Dark’."
     
There's also Arts Fusion, where ten local unemployed people are learning the ins and outs of the music industry. And about to start is Trans-Needs, a fork lift truck driving course.

The council has sold the Initiative Factory a former nightclub building, which they'll be moving into in April. Now all they need is £250,000 to refurbish it. Jimmy’s experience organising benefits and fundraising during the strike serves him well in his role as promotions manager. There will be a live music venue which will show unsigned artists, drama, poetry, community groups and schools - there'll also be a bar, cafe and recording studio in the basement.
     
As well as the training, the aim of the Initiative Factory is to be a campaigning resource. "We want to work with groups like Earth First! – they’re involved in a campaign at the moment in Sefton Park. If there’s another strike, we want to be a resource. It’s all ideas at the moment, and the proof of everything is in doing it. We want to be a political and campaigning movement but we’ve got to make money - people can’t live on fresh air. The world of work has changed unbelievably over the past thirty years, and we want to create socially useful work."
     
 "Nobody will give us any funding - we think it’s a lot to do with having taken on the establishment. We couldn’t prove any of that and they’d never admit to it." There is a positive side to this. "Part of getting the money is that they can get political control over you, so not getting any does leave us free to do what we want politically."
     
Invaluable support during the strike came from abroad: "The international links kept us going financially. The rank and file membership of the West Coast Dockers union in America donated half a million dollars." There was much cross-fertilisation with the direct action movement in this country: "The groups we never had a problem with were the environmental groups. They actually physically did something. They had 55-year-old dockers climbing up the cranes. They taught us not to be sitting around waiting for other people to make decisions. That’s why we’re not waiting around for people to give us money. We had a lot in common - being independent, free-thinking, having compassion. It gave me a completely new lease of life, the sense of pride at taking over a crane - you go into something like that with the full knowledge that you'll get nicked. Most of it was dead exciting, some of it was a little bit frightening."
      
So now it’s on to the next phase, renovating the building and running all the projects with minimal funding and only two paid workers. 180 of the former dockers are members of the Initiative Factory, and about 50 are involved on a day-to-day basis. In their own words: "What is clear is that the Initiative Factory will act to mobilise talent, to combat uncertainties, to reduce material and spiritual poverty and help to build a caring, compassionate society. Resistance, human spirit, creativity, energy, resources and organisation are the watchwords which will guide our activities."