The first of two films produced by Northern Newsreel and Trade Films for the Save Our Shipyards Campaign against the privatisation of the two remaining British Shipbuilders yards on the River Wear; Austin and Pickersgill and Doxfords. The film features the comments from representatives from various unions who see the return to privatisation as a step backwards for the rights of their members. Those in favour of privatisation point to the fact that without it many yards would close as they...

The first of two films produced by Northern Newsreel and Trade Films for the Save Our Shipyards Campaign against the privatisation of the two remaining British Shipbuilders yards on the River Wear; Austin and Pickersgill and Doxfords. The film features the comments from representatives from various unions who see the return to privatisation as a step backwards for the rights of their members. Those in favour of privatisation point to the fact that without it many yards would close as they wouldn’t be able to compete with international markets. In a local pub two men featured in this film criticise the current Conservative government’s desire to destroy both nationalised industries and British Shipbuilders returning it to the private section going, as one of them puts it, ‘back down the road again’. Over the opening credits the Sunderland skyline featuring the cranes and empty slipways along the River Wear, part of Austin and Pickersgill shipyard. Title: Down the Road Again Men on scaffolding working to construct a new vessel that sits on a slipway changes to men coming down a gangplank from a different ship moored along a dockside part way through being fitted out. Arthur Scott from the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) Tyne District believes if the sale of this nationalised industry goes ahead the country will ceases to have a national merchant shipbuilding industry. Seated in his office Councillor S. Fearns explains why the government’s policy is towards privatisation and believe nationalisation is not a solution to the issue of intense international competition. Housewife Lesley Parker sits on her sofa and is critical of the Conservatives negativity towards nationalisation and states that the government has been running the [shipbuilding] industry into the ground for years. The tanker featured previously continues to be moored along a quayside. The camera pans across the Wear to a large factory unit on the far banks where inside men work on the construction of a much smaller vessel. In voiceover Councillor Fearns explains there have been dramatic changes since nationalisation with a drop in both workforce and wages to retain a national presence. In this ‘atmosphere of continuing decline’ he believes if the two remaining shipyards on the Wear were starved of further work they would be suitable for ‘de-nationalisation’. On the River Tyne tankers and cargo ships moored along various shipyard quayside, in voiceover Councillor Fearns comments on how the declines in work for the repair yards on the Tyne was reversed when the yards privatised. As he speaks the camera pans around to show a ship under repair at Readheads ship repair yard at South Shields. With Councillor Fearns finishing, his voice is replaced by that of Norman Tebbit speaking at the 1984 Conservative Party Conference extoling the benefits of privatisation of the Redheads yard. In his office Jack Richardson Managing Director of Readheads is asked about Mr Tebbit’s comments on the yard’s success, he provides details of how the new company was formed by its employees and the benefits this brings to the company. As Mr Richardson talks about how the company can’t guaranteed work and the need for flexibility in employment, outside workmen in the drydock work on the repairs of a ship. Back in his office Mr Richardson outlines the limited notice he gives to the men of possible layoff. A large sign reads ‘Middle Dock’ and two other vessels in dry dock at Readheads for repair. Ted Cuskin, a shipyard worker, explains how he has no security of employment working for the company have only short-term contracts of no more than five weeks at a time. Back in his office Councillor Fearns is asked about the concerns of workers that privatisation means a return to the days of casual labour. He doesn’t believe so and hasn’t seen such practices being used in any other private companies. Jack Richardson is then asked if he is setting the clock back with regards employment practices, he doesn’t see any other way because this is how the market is. Ted Cuskin talks further about his experience of short-term employment. In a pub Jimmy Mulhern from the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EEPTU) explains that when it comes to privatisation there will be thousands of men such as Ted Cuskin with many believing they will never have a permanent job again. Tony Carty A&P [Austin and Pickersgill] Shop Stewards believes that this type of contact will not only drive down conditions and wages but will also stop men from standing up to management due to the fear he may be made redundant the following week. A horn blows at the Wallsend shipyard of Swan Hunters and men race out of the main entrance at the end of the working day. Andy Murray from CSEU Neptune Yards explains that the workforce at the yard today is made up mainly of young men who are more accepting of privatisation, but they don’t remember the hard times of the1950s when privatisation mean something very different. As two tugboats’ tows a near completed tanker along the Wear, Andy Murray remembers those days when after the ‘razzamatazz’ of launch day white redundancy slips were handed out. Peter Callaghan A&P Shop Stewards reads from a statement from Austin and Pickersgill management stating they have no plans to privatise the shipyard, but if no new orders are forthcoming the yard may have to close. As he talks about the catastrophic effects privatisation will have on Sunderland, general views of another ship being worked on inside a factory unit and the tanker featured earlier still being fitted out along its quayside. The camera pulls back from the Wear to show streets of terraced houses in the near distance and Peter Callaghan fearing the Sunderland will become and ‘industrial wilderness’. Standing in a shipyard with a vessel under construction behind him, George Hill of the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Unions (GMBATU) (Boilermakers) is asked if there would be a fight if there was a real threat of closure? He believes the company would try to buy the older workers such as him, but he explains his job isn’t for sale. However, for the young men with families he believes they would have to fight. Several young men working at the yard talk about fighting to save their jobs should it come to that. Sitting in a pub Billy Green from the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW) union compared the shipyard workers situation with a that of the miners, you have to stand up and fight. Lesley Parker is asked what lessons shipyard wives could learn from the actions of miners’ wives. Lesley believes a lot of women realising how strongly their points of view have been taken by other people. Another wife, Sandra Cuskin, believes it has been important that wives have stood together and not been used as a tool to force their husbands back to work. She sees it as a joint action not just between husband and wife but also community to fight to save jobs. Andy Murray from CSEU Neptune Yards talks about the closure of British Steel at Consett in 1980 and how the workers there while following the correct procedures still lost their jobs. He doesn’t believe this will happen to shipbuilding as the men would never allow themselves to be walked all over by management. Jimmy Mulhern from the EEPTU concurs with Andy comments by saying that those who ‘play ball’ with management won’t get you anywhere and that his union won’t allow this to happen to shipbuilding. A montage of men and cranes at work in a shipyard working on various vessels, playing in the background a protest song about many of the points made previously by Andy Murray and Jimmy Mulhern. Another montage of men and women, several of whom featured in this film, make final comments against privatisation and about the men and women fighting side-by-side. The film's final comment comes from Tony Carty who states that it is the government who is acting irresponsibly and not the unions and his fellow workers who are simply protesting privatisation and to try and save their jobs. Title: Stop the job loss, oppose privatisation. Demand effective government support Also available THE PRICE OF SHIPS, The Case for Subsidies. Tel 0632 775532 A Northern Newsreel Video End title: Funded by Tyne and Wear County Council for the Save Our Shipyards Campaign. © Trade Films 1984