Linwood no more … and Ravenscraig, Timex, pits are gone too

THE Lee Jeans protest was one of a catalogue of high-profile disputes that hit Scotland in years of industrial unrest during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The late Jimmy Reid's work-in at the Upper Clyde shipyards resulted in thousands of jobs being saved in the early 1970s. But the long-term decline of the shipbuilding industry could not be reversed.

The Lee Jeans action was far more peaceful than the violent picket lines associated with the miners' strike in Scotland.

The pits strike caused huge tension with the Ravenscraig steelworkers, who needed coal to keep going.

The huge plant near Motherwell survived the strike in the early Eighties, but closed a few years later.

At the Linwood car factory, the unions' battles with the management in the 1970s contributed to the United States company pulling out of Scotland.

In 1987, the US-owned Caterpillar threw 1,000 men out of jobs at Uddingston and transferred production to Grenoble, France, triggering unrest.

In Dundee, action centred on the Timex Electronics Corporation factory drew comparisons with the miners' strike. Timex, which had a 47-year association with the city, was one of its major employers, with a workforce of 5,000 in the 1970s. But its last ten years there brought continued job losses, a factory occupation and picket-line violence. In early January 1993, there were proposed layoffs at the factory.

A ballot for strike action came out at 92 per cent in favour, while requests for negotiation and arbitration were ignored.

On 29 January, the workers came out on strike. They offered to return to work on 17 February, but were told there would be a pay cut of 10 per cent across the board.

When they refused to accept those conditions, they were locked out. Strikebreakers were brought in to replace the striking workers.

On 28 August, 1993, the factory shut, following six months of industrial unrest.

The Timex dispute has been described as the last major strike in the UK.