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A work-in is a form of direct action under which workers whose jobs are under threat resolve to remain in their place of employment and to continue producing, without pay. Their intention is usually to show that their place of work still has long-term viability or that it can be effectively self-managed by the workers.
In June 1971, Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in Scotland entered liquidation after the Heath government refused to provide further subsidies to save them form closure. [3] It was announced that two of the firm's three shipyards would close and 1400 people were immediately made redundant. [4] : 43 Workers responded by occupying the three shipyards and announced that a group of workers would continue to run the yards. [4] : 43 Jimmy Reid, a shop steward and the spokesperson for the group, stated: [4] : 43
Nothing and nobody will come in or go out of the yards without our permission. The world is witnessing a new tactic on behalf of the workers ... We are not going on strike - not even a sit-in strike. We are taking over the yards because we refuse to accept that faceless men can make these decisions.
Marches, concerts, public collections and other fundraising was organised to support the workers involved, collecting nearly £250,000. [3] The work-in gained international attention and public support; John Lennon and Yoko Ono donated £1000, as did the National Union of Mineworkers, and shipbuilders from the USSR donated £2700. [5]
On 18 August, a mass demonstration in support of the workers was held in Glasgow, with 80,000 people marching from Glasgow Green to George Square. [5] Among those who attended the protest were Vic Feather (the TUC general secretary), Billy Connolly, Matt McGinn and Tony Benn. [5] The chief constable of Glasgow's police, David McNee, told the government he could not guarantee public safety if the yard closures went ahead and asked for 5000 extra officers to maintain order. [4] : 44
The work-in ended in spring 1972, [6] with the government committing in February 1972 to supporting UCS with a further £35m of state funding. [4] : 44
Harco Steel, a steel manufacturing company based in Campbelltown, Sydney, was dependent on state and federal government contracts, laying off workers once they had been completed and rehiring them as new ones were signed. [7] Workers went on strike often and sometimes won higher wages, but never managed to prevent dismissals. [7] Strikes were less successful because management stockpiled materials before firing workers, [8] meaning strikes would have no effect on the firm's profit in the short term.
On 16 November 1971, the firm dismissed five boilermakers and one ironworker due to a downturn in orders. [7] With past strikes having been generally ineffective, workers met and, taking inspiration from the UCS work-in and factory occupations by French car-makers during May 1968, decided to occupy the steelworks. [7]
The next morning, the workers took control of the factory, declaring management to be "surplus to their requirements". [7] The management called the police and the workers informed the press and other unions in order to publicise their occupation. [7] Due to the level of local support, police took no action. [7]
The occupation, termed a 'stay-put' by workers, continued for four weeks with a 35-hour work week. [7] The Boilermakers Union had campaigned for a 35-hour work week, but this was the first instance of it being implemented. [7] [8] The workers were supported by donations from other unions and worksites and food from the local community. [8]
Because the workers were working rather than striking, Harco could not remove them under the Arbitration Act. [7] Instead, management removed tools, ladders and power to try to shut down the steelworks and called on the Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA) to intervene in the dispute. Staunchly anti-Communist and known for its compliance with business, the FIA called for a strike at the Harco plant which would have ended the work-in. [7] The workers ignored their union and continued their work-in. [7]
The work-in was defeated by the use of the New South Wales Summary Offenses Act, [9] with Harco issuing trespass notices to the workers ordering them to leave. [7] Under the Commonwealth Industrial Act, any union which supported the work-in could be penalised and so the Boilermakers Union refused to give legal aid from the Harco workers if they continued working. [7]
The case made it to the Supreme Court of New South Wales, where the workers were order to leave the steelworks - workers who remained would be fined $1000 per day which could be seized from sales of their personal property. [7] The work-in ended and workers held a Christmas party to celebrate their occupation. [7]
After the LIP's managing director Jacques Saint-Esprit resigned in 1973, there was uncertainty over the firm's future. The workers' unions at the factory in Besançon, the CGT and the CFDT, opposed administration plans and encouraged workers to support collective action rather than take voluntary redundancies. [10]
At a meeting between workers and the firm's directors in June 1973, [11] a worker grabbed a briefcase from one of the directors and ran off with it. [12] The briefcase's contents laid out the closure of all of LIP's divisions except watchmaking, which was to be sold to a Swiss company, Ébauches SA. [12] [13] The Swiss company planned to lay off at least 960 of LIP's 1427 employees. [13]
On 10 June, workers occupied the LIP factory in order to "safeguard the means of production"; [10] the occupation continued for 57 days. [14] During this time, they seized 65,000 watches (30,000 of which were smuggled out of the factory and hidden across Besançon) [10] and attempted to set up a self-management system under the slogan "We produce, we sell, we pay ourselves". [14] On 18 June, workers endorsed the idea of restarting production, with leading shop steward Charles Piaget using the UCS work-in as an example. [10] Different working processes were created with slower paces and more frequent rotations in the most tiring jobs; 25,000 watches were made during the work-in.
Despite an August 1973 finding 63% of French adults to be sympathetic to the cause of the LIP workers, the national political landscape was not favourable. [10] Prime Minister Pierre Messmer sent 3,000 state police with orders to reclaim the factory and end the occupation. [10] The factory was taken by police on 14 August and the work-in was ended. [12] An agreement was eventually reached between workers and management, with Charles Neuschwander, a left-wing employer, taking over and pledging to employ all remaining workers as part of a new enterprise called SEHEM. [10] [13]
James Reid was a Scottish trade union activist, orator, politician and journalist born in Govan, Glasgow. His role as spokesman and one of the leaders in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in between June 1971 and October 1972 attracted international recognition. He later served as Rector of the University of Glasgow and subsequently became a journalist and broadcaster. Formerly a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Reid was later a member of the Labour Party. He moved on to supporting the Scottish Socialist Party in the late 1990s, then joined the Scottish National Party in 2005 and gave his full support to the idea of Scottish independence. He died in 2010 after a long illness.
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde. It entered liquidation, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a "work-in" campaign at the company's shipyards, involving shop stewards Jimmy Airlie and Jimmy Reid, among others.
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers (IBB) is a trade union in the United States and Canada. It is for boilermakers and related occupations, and is affiliated with both the AFL–CIO and CLC.
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Occupation of factories is a method of the workers' movement used to prevent lock outs. They may sometimes lead to "recovered factories", in which the workers self-manage the factories.
LIP is a French watch and clock company whose turmoil became emblematic of the conflicts between workers and capital in France.
The 1971 Harco work-in was an action undertaken by workers at a steel plant in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. The work-in was the culmination of a protracted industrial dispute between the owners of Harco Steel and the workers at the Campbelltown site. The dispute arose as a result of worker objections to the owners' practice of sacking and then rehiring workers to reduce costs during periods of low production.
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The Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers (ASB) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Many of its members worked in shipbuilding, in which industry it was the leading trade union, while over time it also developed strength in engineering and construction.
Jimmy Airlie was a leading Scottish trade unionist. While a shop steward, along with Sammy Gilmore, Sammy Barr and Jimmy Reid he was particularly remembered for his role as chairman of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in committee of 1971.
Sammy Gilmore was a shipyard electrician and trade union organiser, known for being one of the leaders of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders' work-in in 1972.
Samuel Alexander Barr was a British shipyard worker, trade unionist and Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) work-in veteran. Barr was an "inspiring speaker" and organiser who was a "widely respected shop steward" of the Boilermakers' Society at the time of the "historic work-in" at the UCS in 1971. Barr was credited with coming up with the idea for a work-in, which gained a lot of publicity and forced the UK Government into a reversal, saving 6,000 jobs at the shipyard. Barr was a lifelong friend to fellow UCS activists Jimmy Airlie and Sammy Gilmore. Throughout his life he displayed "considerable political commitment" to the right to work, and protection for the rights of young working people, and also particularly to the protection of the Clyde shipyards.
Workers' control is participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christian democrats, and has been combined with various socialist and mixed economy systems.
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"Alienation" was Jimmy Reid's inaugural address as Rector of the University of Glasgow. Reid's election in October 1971 came during his attempt to save jobs at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, threatened by cuts in government subsidies. The address was delivered on 28 April 1972 to students and the university court in Bute Hall. Reid's subject was Marx's theory of alienation and he used the example of the modernisation of the Clyde shipyards which he considered risked breaking the pride workers had in their products. In one famous passage he lamented the "scrambling for position" in modern society and stated that the "rat race is for rats. We're not rats. We're human beings". The speech was reprinted in full by the New York Times and has since been referred to as one of the most outstanding speeches of the 20th century. It raised Reid's profile and led to a number of national television appearances.