A VARIETY concert will be staged on Monday to raise funds for Liverpool dockers who have been on strike for 16 months.

Hyndburn and Rossendale Trade Union Council have organised the show at the Canine Working Men's Club, Abbey Street, Accrington.

One of the dockers will speak before the show.

The council's secretary, Peter Billington, said: "The 500 Merseyside dockers were sacked for refusing to cross a picket line. This is a fight against casual labour and the low pay and bad conditions that go with short-term contracts.

Admission to the concert is £2 (£1 concessions) and it starts at 8pm. Entertainment will come from Lynn and Barrie Hardman, The Stringmen, Kath Reade, Coyote, Stanley Accrington and Nigel Kensington-Smythe.

The council is holding a street collection for the dockers in Rossendale next Saturday.

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