50 years ago This week.

[HORT]

 

A report this week in the St helens Reporter 50 years ago this week. I wonder if Alan remembers it. ( If he was still at Trple X  then)

 

The lead story in the Reporter described a bizarre dispute between branches of the same trade union that had the potential – as the paper put it – "[to] paralyse the Pilkington empire".

The row concerned Triplex lorry driver John Kenny who had lost his job because he had completed a 165-mile journey fifteen minutes sooner than the specified time.

That had been established after negotiations between the firm and the Transport and General Workers Union.

It was not in the interests of the union for its members to undertake tasks sooner than the time that they had agreed with the company. And so the Pilkington branch of the TGWU had fined John £2.50.

The lorry driver had refused to pay up; his colleagues had consequently decided not to work with him and because John was in dispute with his union, Pilks had sacked him.

But the St Helens branch of the TGWU were outraged by the sacking and threatened to "black" Pilkington goods.

The union's secretary Harry Hull said: "This man has been dismissed not for bad workmanship but because he wouldn't pay a £2.50 fine he should never have been given. It bloody stinks. There will be meetings all over the country now."

Edited November 1 by HORT

[Alan]

I left Triplex to go to Cumbria in 1971. That 1969 Pilks strike had ruined Triplex's future

[ellie ellins]

It is all to do with the unions again?

[Alan]

Triplex workers never wanted to join the strike but were pressurised to do so by militants, many of whom were bused in from non-Pilks organisations including various building sites. But to answer your question, I think both Pilks senior management and the unions share the blame. The dispute had been brewing for years at Top Works but had been largely white-washed