British sociologist and political activist Hilary Armstrong sits down with trade unionist Jim Murray inside The Hydraulic Crane public house on Scotswood Road, Newcastle in February 1983. Over the course of the interview Jim talks about his time as a Works Convenor at the Vickers Elswick factory, about bringing union representation to the shopfloor, establish combined committees to bring all the many unions together to work as one and to create a national strategy for combating what he saw as...

British sociologist and political activist Hilary Armstrong sits down with trade unionist Jim Murray inside The Hydraulic Crane public house on Scotswood Road, Newcastle in February 1983. Over the course of the interview Jim talks about his time as a Works Convenor at the Vickers Elswick factory, about bringing union representation to the shopfloor, establish combined committees to bring all the many unions together to work as one and to create a national strategy for combating what he saw as the running down of the factory by Vickers management. Sadly, his efforts to save the Elswick works were unsuccessful, and Jim is filmed travelling though the site of the works during its demolition lamenting both the loss of 140 years of history but also seeing the devastating effects the closure has and will have on the local community. In the final part of the film shot during the spring of 1985, Jim condemns the decision by the council to build a hypermarket on the site of the Elswick works instead of the promised Industrial and Science Park. Title: The Northern Film and T.V. Archive Title: Works Convenor. Jim Murray in conversation with Hilary Wainwright Title: In September 1982, Vickers Ltd closed its Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, factory. It transferred tank production to the new purpose-built factory at nearby Scotswood, which was to operate with a vastly reduced workforce Title: With the closure of the Elswick factory, Jim Murray resigned his position as Chairman of the Elswick Committee of Shop Stewards – having occupied it for over twenty years – and was made redundant along with hundreds of his workmates Title: Three years prior to this, Vickers Ltd had closed its original Scotswood engineering factory, throwing all the workers there onto the dole Title: In this conversation with Hilary Armstrong, co-author of “The Workers’ Report on Vickers”, Jim Murray recounts and reflects upon his experiences as a representative of the shop floor movement in Vickers Title: Recorded in ‘The Hydraulic Crane’, Scotswood Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, February 1983 The Hydraulic Crane public house on Scotswood Road in Newcastle Title: An Engineering Apprenticeship. Learning on the Trade….. and the System Sitting beside a large window inside The Hydraulic Crane, Jim Murray begins his conversation with Hilary Wainwright by talking about his early career as an apprentice engineer at Clarke Chapman at Gateshead and his first introduction to trade unionism through members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). Title: Traditions of Militancy Jim joined what was then Vickers Armstrong in 1958 which he explains to Hilary had a bad reputation for wages. He explains about the role of the wage fixer. The company was also considered one of the birth places of the shop steward movement. Jim talks about the shops he worked at ending up at the Car Body Die Shop where he was elected Shops Steward to get involved in the internal workings of Vickers. Title: Beginning of the Rundown Jim explains his criticism of the trade union movement for not doing enough to prevent the loss of 400 job and the closure of the Scotswood factory. This, Jim believes, was the beginning of the rundown of the Newcastle factory. Title: The Car Body Shop. A Breeding Ground for Militants Jim explains that Vickers Armstrong considered the Car Body Shop to be a new product and brought in skilled workers from across the company. Because of this it did become a hotbed for militancy where many, like Jim, were trained to become a breeding ground for Convenor and Shop Stewards. Title: From Shop Steward to Convenor Jim talks about his election initially as shop steward within the Car Body Shop before being elected as Works Convenor. There was opposition from other unions within the shop, but the AU had the highest membership, so Jim won. It was the thing to do as an active trade unionist. Title: The Power of the Shop Floor Jim talks about the Works Convenor’s relationship with the Shop Stewards and working together on changing the four-shift night shift, a battle which was with both Vickers managements as well as the union. He goes onto talk about how Convenor’s in other factories across Tyneside worked in supporting each other. Title: Towards a Combined Committee Hilary asks Jim about how the shop steward committees were responding to the radical changes that were taking place at Vickers with the bringing in of people like Sir Peter Matthews and Lord Alfred Robens? Jim saw these changes not as the start of the rundown of the factory, rather an intensification. He also believed it was an opportunity to look at a national strategy withing the Vickers group. He talks about a new pension fund which was offered to shopfloor staff in 1974 as an example of the different standards that were at work in the factory. Title: Problems of Organisation Jim talks about the problems he had with the larger national unions whom he believed had outdated 19th century attitudes towards capitalists. He talks about having to use sub diffuse to speak with other local Works Conveyors to plan towards a national organisation of Shop Stewards. Jim explains that since Vickers as a company was now more centralised in London with none of the local mangers had any say with the changes that are taking place, they only way to be effective was to create a central and national organisation in Vickers to fight for all its members. Hilary asks if the combined committee, which was formed at Vickers in 1974, was effective? Jim, gives the example of the pension fund as something they were able to force Vickers to the negotiation table with. However, looking at Vickers today he doesn’t believe they were successful. At the old Vickers Elswick works a bulldozer demolishing one of the factory shops. Standing on the back of a flatbed lorry being driving through the site Jim states this is the ‘final chapter’ of Vickers on Tyneside. He explains that only a few months earlier men were working in these shops earning a living to support their families, now they are all on the dole. He talks a little about the sit-in by workers looking to keep the factory open that, in the end, wasn’t successful He also talks about the efforts of Vickers to clear the site as quickly as possible and move onto the new site at Scotswood with a much-reduced workforce. Back inside The Hydraulic Crane Jim explains to Hilary why national action was important to get Vickers to consider backing down on possible closures of factories. However, he explains why it was hard to get that kind of solidarity. Title: Whose Government? Hilary asks if Jim’s if he was involved with Labour Party policy during his time standing for parliament in 1973-74 to increase trade union power? Jim talks about Labour’s lack of success with regards industry during the 1960s and 70s and the development of both an industrial policy and the setting up of the National Enterprise Board to help get back control of both the economy and growth. While not directly involved, he explains that Shop Steward committees were set up at Vickers to help sell the policies, to democratise industry and to get the shopfloor more involved. Hilary asks Jim if the Tyne Shop Steward Conference was able to apply any pressure once the industrial policy outlined above was ditched? Jim explains that by this time the fight was on to save jobs and there were real situations to deal with. Even with the then Labour government it was clear that the industrial policy was no longer a reality. The closure of the Scotswood factory in 1979 was very dis-illusionary moment, as he provides details archive of protest march to save the works. Still standing on the flatbed lorry being driven through the old Elswick works, Jim reminisces about some of the buildings and shops that were on the site building armaments and tanks. Title: Socially Useful Products Back inside The Hydraulic Crane Jim saw the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as being linked to the closure of Elswick as they no longer had a customer able to purchase the Vickers Chieftain tanks. He talks about how he tried to get Vickers to start making ‘socially useful products’ following a visit to Iran in 1979 and seeing all the social problems there. Back at the Elswick works Jim continues his tour of the site by saying it is the end of 140 years of history which has also destroyed the whole fabric and economy of the West End. He sees the history of the Elswick works as being part of the history of Newcastle. Jim also see the decline of Vickers is also linked to the decline of shipbuilding on the Tyne. Title: Picking up the Pieces Back inside The Hydraulic Crane Jim tells Hilary that the demolition of the Elswick work is symbolic that they have lost the battles they have fought to save and stop the rundown of the Vickers. Although they lost, Jim still believes what they did to build up the combined committee and form inter-union solidary was right. The combine still continues following the amalgamation of Vickers with Rolls-Royce, he hopes those still part of the union has learned the lessons. Hilary asks why Jim left and what he is doing now. Jim says that being a convenor for twenty-years it was time for new ideas. It was also the decision made by Vickers not to have a full-time convenor at the new Scotswood factory. Although he no longer works for Vickers, he is still involved with the union at branch level as well as active inside the Labour party. Title: A Shared Class Experience Denied The interview with Jim ends with him expressing concerns that the development of a class consciousness is being lost. School leavers today going onto the dole are not only losing out on work experience buy also class experiences and learned from older workers. He is concerned that this will have a knock-on effect for the political beliefs of these young people down the line. Title: Postscript. Newcastle City Council plans to engage a private developer to create a vast stadium, leisure and superstore complex on the former Vickers Elswick site. Credit: Camera Witold Stok Sound Graham Denman VTR Mike Brennan, Brian McEvoy Title: Thanks to Amber Films, Tish Murtha, Newcastle City Libraries, Gateshead Libraries Title: Made under the terms of the A.C.T.T. Workshop Declaration and with the financial assistance of Channel Four Television and the British Film Institute Title: A Trade Film Production © Trade Films 1984 Title: Distributors. Northern Film and T.V. Archive, 36 Bottle Bank, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE8 2AR. Tel: 0632 773601 The spring of 1985 and Jim Wilson stands on an embankment overlooking the new Vickers Armstrong Works on Scotswood Road which, according to Jim, make tanks for the third world. He compares the factory today employing 700 on short-time with the heydays of Armstrong’s on the same site employing 70,000. He explains that while he and his colleagues told Labour MP’s and Labour city councillors what Vickers were doing, they were not believed. He is sadly been vindicated and proved right and that the thriving Scotswood community has been devastated by Vickers withdrawal. Standing on another embankment across the road from The Hydraulic Crane the cleared site of what was once the Elswick works along the Tyne in the distance. Jim complains about the area around The Hydraulic Crane being turned into an ‘Enterprise Zone’ with Vickers getting favourable rate and that the Elswick site will be turned into a hypermarket rather than a science park as they were promised. ‘Is this progress?’ asks Jim shaking his head.