For the Record (4)

September 16, 1980

Leaders of Britain's 23,000 dockers decided to call a national strike because of a dispute over job losses in the port of Liverpool. If the national strike does go ahead, it will be the first by the dockers since 1972, when one lasted for three weeks. It is estimated that a strike would cost $1.4 billion in lost exports a week, and a similar sum in imports vital to Britain's economy.