News In Brief

British dock strike begins to crumble

Dockers in the port of London, the biggest in the country, have defied their leaders and voted to return to work, further weakening the two-week dock stoppage in support of Britain's striking miners. Employers at the Port of London Authority conducted the ballot over the head of the union. The final result of the ballot will be declared this week.

The Transport and General Workers Union, which represents Britain's 36,000 dockers, called the strike over the berthing of a coal ship which longshoremen refused to handle.

Meanwhile, miners and the state-run National Coal Board began fresh peace talks at a secret site Sunday to try to end what has become one of the epic strikes in Britain's labor history.