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T HE SH I PWR I GH T S ’ ST R I K E
This was the background to the shipwrights’ strike of August 1915,
which nearly brought production on the Clyde to a standstill.
A dispute between two shipwrights, accused of not attending to their
work, and their foreman, was badly managed so that it escalated to
a strike of 426 shipwrights in Fairfields. Under the Munitions of War
Act this strike was illegal and 17 men were convicted and fined.
Three of the men refused to pay their fines and were imprisoned.
The shipwrights’ union informed the Government that there would
be a strike of all Clyde shipwrights if the men were not released.
The Government appointed a Committee of Enquiry to the dispute,
which reported within one week.Their report disentangled the facts
of the original small dispute from the large amounts of politics and
emotion which surrounded it and made practical recommendations
about solving future problems of this kind.The union considered that
the strikes were vindicated by the report, they paid the men’s fines,
the men were released and the Clyde strike called off.
This was one of the incidents that gave the Clyde its reputation
for being revolutionary –‘Red’ Clydeside. Memories of these wartime
disputes certainly played a part in industrial relations in the shipyards
over the remainder of the century.
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