| Description | Tape 1 Side A: ROBERT (BOB) HENRY BALLANTYNE born Glasgow 26 July 1942. Adopted child of Robert Ballantyne and Davina Ballantyne nee O'Donnell. Details re family. Long term effect of parents' divorce, attitudes then to single parents, stigma re own status. Description of parents, mother's state of health. Father's work as joiner, small businessman. Relationship with parents. Recollection of childhood homes, circumstances of protestant schooling in Glasgow, playing truant; interest in architecture, time spent in art gallery. Description of family circumstances, impact of religion on own attitudes. Introduction to politics through trade union, encouragement to read books. Recollection of introduction to music from woodwork teacher. Impact of early interest in architecture. Domestic circumstances in childhood home, reaction to these in adulthood. Details of teenage education in Glasgow slums. Place of alcohol during childhood, after leaving school. Description of social life, preparation for apprenticeship. Reason for picking electrical trade, disillusionment, discovery of reality of heavy work of industrial electrician in shipyards, industry etc. Explanation of own self-reliance. Details re mother who could not read or write.
Tape 1 Side B: Details re temporary jobs after leaving school at 15. Delivery boy, cinema projectionist. Background to industrial electrical apprenticeship in Glasgow, attendance at night school. Details re work. Introduction to books, music. Details re accommodation. First marriage at 19, first child at 20, effect on mother. Reflections on her. Details re wife, daughter of a miner, her strength. Effect of own drinking. Details re children, background to names. Explanation of normal marriage patterns at the time in working class situation. The future was next week. Feelings about job certainty. Significance of apprenticeship. One uncle a foreman in shipyard. Awareness of world conflicts through National Servicemen. Contact with jazz music. Feelings about Scottish traditional music. Recollection of B-movie gangsters among group in Gorbals, Glasgow. Work with contracting firms as apprentice. Details re first work away, in Birmingham, first experience of scarlet ladies in pubs. No perception of oil industry until c1968 when working in petrochemical industry in Grangemouth. Description of typical job as electrician - putting in cables etc. Explanation of feelings about work as electrician, working on cable trays etc, creative, artistic aspect of cable patterns, sculptural aspects etc. Recollection of first LP of music by Nat King Cole, St Louis Blues. Details re job at Grangemouth Petrochemical factory, attraction of good money, working week. Background to involvement in union as shop steward, feelings re injustices, involvement in apprentice strikes. Recollection of British troops in Clydeside.
Tape 2 Side A: Trade union involvement (cont'd). Explanation of importance of icons, eg John Mclean, significance of own Glasgow environment. Recollection of working class names, wearing ties when working at smart houses, learning of values, eg skills in building fine houses. Reason for involvement with union movement. Early learning of need for organisation. Sense of identity learned through union movement. Significance of experience in closed childhood communities. Successes achieved by unions. Details re attempt by management to cut tea break, introduce flasks on the job instead. Attitude to oil industry in late 1960s in petrochemical environment. Details re time at Grangemouth, Baglan Bay doing industrial electrical work. Work at Faslane naval base. Recollection of joining in CND protest etc. Attitude of union to CND, South African apartheid, Nelson Mandela etc. Own political attitudes, influence of mother. Background to being sent to Libya on contract 1974-5. Problems re contract, working in the desert. Recollection of threatening strike. Details re settlement. Danger of adoption of imperialist attitudes when abroad. Made beer, traded for grappa with Italians in spite of laws re alcohol in Libya. Common language abroad of football, own great enthusiasm, support for Clyde. Similarity of Libyan flag, Clyde colours. Story of experience of a violent student demonstration, getting a Libyan flag to take home.
Tape 2 Side B: Worked in Algiers for a year on contract. Background to first job in offshore oil industry with James Scott, electrical contractors 1977. Details of working times. Explanation of role of contractors offshore, work done by James Scott. Sent to do electrical work on Chevron Central platform. Trouble bubbling beneath surface, move to establish trade union. Details. Enforced long hours of work. First impression of offshore work, platform, living conditions, regimented work and leisure routines, semi-pornographic literature, tapes, male-dominated environment. Three topics of conversation: sex, football, drink - all of which absent from life there. Attempt to improve recreation facilities. Description of living conditions, hot-bedding etc. Explanation of each individual's status as a bed. Story of the King Eddie Suite. Importance of sense of humour. Good quality of food. No redress with management. Regime of fear, concern re expectation of continued employment. Description of hierarchies offshore of oil companies, contractors etc and pecking order within workforce structure. Barriers to union organisation of workforce including dispersal of workers when onshore. Explanation of use of NRB (Not Required Back) notice, fear caused by this. Difficulty getting different trades to join together, organise meetings etc. Necessity for things to be done in clandestine way. Approached to help with organisation. Role of own union, Joe Black. Approach taken by self and others re NRBs, 15-hour shift etc, dealings with management. Reaction of management. Own double role: to fight management, recruit union members. Details.
Tape 3 Side A: Never a union official but had to recruit members. Attitude of management to officials, shop stewards. Details re first offshore strikes, causes, arguments, requests, issues such as pornography. Problem with different working time desires of workers, pecking order for meals etc, different standards. Details re withdrawal of labour, threat to foreman. Distant attitude of oil companies to contractors, threats re contract etc. Development of pressure on platform, onshore. Difficulty sustaining sit-in offshore. Details. Problem with telephone communication - phone owned by oil company. Reaction of some workers to situation - wanted to get away. Lack of unified workforce. Details re proportion of workers who were unionists. Own vision of platform as inverted coal mine: explanation re 19th century conditions etc. Remoteness of platforms suited oil companies etc. Further explanation of inverted coal mine metaphor. Numbers of coal miners who went to oil industry. Explanation of own belief in trade unionism; feelings re 'power' of unions. Effect of media reporting, eg of wildcat strikes, origin of term. Importance of family support for union work, problem with domestic hostility. Impact of general unpopularity of unions in 1970s on workers offshore; images of communism, militancy. Need to show potential members benefits of union. Explanation of own role, conflicts. Importance of unity. Reasons for people needing work offshore. Recollection of numbers working earlier in shipyards. Klondike atmosphere offshore. Family details. Support of own wife who had experience as daughter of a miner.
Tape 3 Side B: Explanation of industrial apartheid offshore. Feelings re American-ness of leadership of industry. Example of fear factor, attitudes to Yanks. Explanation of different pressures in oil industry, discovery of potential power of workers. Attitude of James Scott (employing contractor). Possibility of psychological victories for workers. Became Chairman of Platform Coordinating Committee. Details. Development of radical character of platform. Details. Activists split up between onshore, offshore. Explanation of difficulty keeping continuity of union activity. Example of a coordinated sit-in. View of national politics at the time, impact of union activity. No awareness of IUOOC. Easy for multi-nationals, contractors to attack workforce. Details of daily routine offshore: communal washing facilities, mundane tasks in daily work. Details of hook-up jobs, pulling cables for 21 days. Recalls quiz games while working, smoking in smoke pens, maintenance jobs, connecting-up jobs. Organisers, militants, activists given bad jobs. Details re night shift involving work between modules, mid-winter clothing, intense cold, conditions of work, games played to pass time away. Different colours for hard hats. Mind games played. Conditions in accommodation quarters, sleeping etc. Further details re daily routine, knock-off time etc. Union achievements on platform re NRB, compulsory overtime, communication with management etc. Own role dealing with people. Evening routine, bedding, resting arrangements. Everything done in a rush, competitiveness for place in queues etc.
Tape 4 Side A: Evening routine, competitiveness for place in queues etc (cont'd). Effect of environment on health, injuries in chemical-filled atmosphere. Medics inundated with complaints. Details. Widespread use of drugs for sleep etc. Problem with people snoring, air conditioning, continuous light, etc. Details re institution (by union) of required sleep time before night shift for health and safety reasons. Problem with people smoking in cabins. Small things became large things. Importance of phone contact with shore, limited number of calls, particular situation at Christmas etc. Example of this for a family man. Example from own experience of going home after time offshore, realisation of being a stranger in the family. Problem with drink (alcohol). Recollection of offshore expressions: NRB (Not Required Back), bear, eyeball etc. Description of platform as ship with 4 blunt ends, inverted coal mine. Recollection of (worker) organisation platform by platform. More industrial cohesion among bears. Lack of permanence of employment offshore. Phenomenon of de-manning, euphemism for being paid off. Reason for working offshore - state of heavy industry onshore. Details. Impact of Thatcherism. Construction people were industrial gypsies. Realities of strikes, hardships, difficulties keeping people on strike offshore etc. Media myths of continuous strikes. Details of threats from management. Difficulty getting practical support from onshore workers though they gave strong moral support. Details of financial difficulties.
Tape 4 Side B: Situation at ICI, British Gas, changes in industrial scene in UK, steel, coal industries etc. Impact of Japanese. Significance of oil industry to UK, the ordinary worker in Aberdeen. Examples of higher costs today. Comments on Margaret Thatcher's carrying out of wishes of Confederation of British Industry, World Bank, taking on coal, nationalising industries. Significance of oil industry to Thatcher's programme. Oil industry a frontier occupation. Government able to impose Victorian measures on workforce. Details. Pollution that was caused offshore would not have been possible onshore. Details of pollution in spite of industry claims of environmental friendliness. Health situation for offshore workers. Mentions use of chemicals offshore that would not be permitted onshore. Reaction to own complaints from management. Recollection of complaint re scaffolding, reaction. Own stand taken. Details re top management team, lies told. Manifestations of macho environment, status signs, expressions used, stickers worn on hard hats etc. Feelings about self in this environment, aims for improvement. Details re breaks between shifts etc. Need to organise membership offshore to justify support onshore. Numbers of potential members on platform. Describes fruitless recruitment visits to platform by union people. Attitude of oil companies, manipulation of situation. Story of reaction of Shell engineer to an anti-Shell anti-apartheid notice board sign, to being challenged. Took anti-apartheid, CND, trade union literature to platform.
Tape 5 Side A: Worked on a number of Shell platforms. People would only speak quietly re anti-apartheid, CND, trade union literature. Recollection of swapping magazines etc at school. Similar activity - carried out openly - with porn magazines offshore. Details. Later video porn swapping. Clandestine circulation of Morning Star, Socialist Worker left wing papers. Recollection of working over Christmas day, feelings re showing of pornographic movie in cinema. Feeling about culture offshore, avoidance of social, political issues etc. Comments on religious organisations. Own attitude to group cultures, eg football, education, arts, music; reaction of work colleagues. Frontier aspect of offshore work. Compares with traditional (onshore) industries of eg steelworks, shipbuilding, petrochemicals. Oil industry an American import with American ideology, myth etc. Details. Attitude to trade unions. Compares with attitude in shipyards, coal mines. Sacrifice and fight necessary to get working class rights. Comparison of possibilities for workers. Persuasion techniques used to get workers to buy in to mortgages etc, creating dependence. Similar approach at political level with Margaret Thatcher ethos. Details. Status of offshore work for wives etc. Details. Recollection of impact of job on own home life. Details re home, working class ethos etc. Problem with drink (alcohol) culture. Details of drinking routine, cost. Stopped drinking later on. Details re work routine, high proportion of time away, pressure on house, own limited role in home. Attitude of wife. Relationship with children. Reason for stopping drinking.
Tape 5 Side B: Description of tanking up when bears came onshore. Reason for changing own drinking habit overnight, impact of children's reactions. Changes in own contribution to home. Details re marriage, feelings re own responsibility. Explanation of decision re contact with children after separation. Recalls decision taken when in water on the night of Piper Alpha. Description of working class attitude to marriage, separation etc. Recollection of children's reaction when at home between times offshore, when time came to go back offshore. Own feelings re job. Recalls taking children to football etc, significance of this. Explanation of drinking activity when coming ashore. Conversations offshore re drink. Details re drink purchasing routines during oil workers' trips home by train, the planning, ways of beating the system, working in groups of 4, competitiveness, getting bevvied etc. Effect of getting away from the platform, explanations made (at home). Recollection of hazards working offshore. Example of a dangerous job, conflict with bosses re safety procedure. Recollection of drilling workers, 'bears', 'tigers', 'monkey man', expressions used. Attitudes offshore, verbal abuse, frontier working conditions. Explanation of own limited knowledge re aspects of drilling etc. Own work was pre-drilling hook-up or post-hook-up stages. Feelings about job.
Tape 6 Side A: First association with Piper Alpha was doing refurbishment. Worked with Press Offshore, Wood Group. Details re work. Benefit of Piper for Occidental in quantities of oil produced etc. Compares Piper with other platforms, conditions, working environments, safety situation etc. Description of platform. Concern re heat from flares, use of heat shield, heat in accommodation cabins. Involvement in Open University study. Concern re heat from turbines, inflammable exhaust fumes, use of water cannons. Reaction of operator, Occidental. Reference to Harry Green. Cameras on platform legs used to monitor vibration. Observation by scaffolders that Piper had sunk into seabed over the years. Details. Comparison of Piper recreation areas etc with other platforms. Example of industrial apartheid. Mentions photography club on platform. Details re own work routine over 18 months on Piper. Explanation of change of contract to Wood Group. Comparison of industrial situation with other platforms. Details re health and safety situation, attitude of Occidental people. Changes to Piper, precarious situation of accommodation. Recollection of ineffectual health and safety meetings, a perk, avoidance of controversial matters. Description of environment on platform, attitude to working there. Own study situation. Recollections of a difficult, bullying supervisor, funny guys who made platform life better.
Tape 6 Side B: Reputation of Piper Alpha pre-disaster; own impression. Mentions refurbishment programme. State of some of the pipes. Location of gas leaks known. Recollections of Charlie McLaughlin, electrical worker, a character, who died on Piper. Details of time together, conversations about religion etc, his untidy habits, attitudes, generosity. Details re refusal to work in 16 degrees below zero on another platform. Recollection of night Piper blew up; example of Charlie's tender and rough sides, his values. Recollection of Ian Gallanders, instrumentation worker for the company. Details re him, his influence, attitude. Description of own and cabin-mates' actions after Piper blew up. Took Voltaire's Candide when escaping. Ian didn't survive. Details re search parties, lack of injuries 25 minutes after explosion. Uncertainty re helicopter rescue. Details re procedures followed, confusion. Recollection of Les Morris, drilling engineer who showed way outside. Description of scene outside, actions of people who followed safety manual instructions re waiting for helicopter rescue etc. Description of own movements, fireballs.
Tape 7 Side A: Recalls seabirds offshore, bird hospitals for distressed birds, bird manuals. Birds followed supply boats out. Recalls porpoises and other marine life. Recalls other pastimes. Piper Alpha disaster (cont'd). Continues description of situation following exit from accommodation module. Reference, during interview, to illustrations in Cullen Report. Mentions sea below helicopter deck being on fire. Impossible to get to lifeboats. Describes escape from fireball, extent of fire, reasons for route taken. Some crew climbed to helicopter deck, jumped off in suicidal attempt, surprised at survival in sea. Explains. Recalls clearance of smoke, route taken to production level. Terrified at melting metal. Describes scene. Explains decision to take different route from friends who died, to east side of platform. Still has feelings of guilt. Mentions rescue craft. Describes descent to lower level by rope to Spider (Cellar) Deck. Piper had sunk over time because of vibration. Explains. Comments on light at time. Describes deaths of other crew after another explosion, fireball. Witnessed rescue boat blowing up. Comments on feelings at the time, personal reactions, survival instinct, lack of emotion at time. Recalls going into water, staying with platform. Describes terror, feelings of being in a nightmare, things falling off platform. Shouted to rescue craft. Recalls heat of water. Joined by coxswain of destroyed zodiac. Crane fell off. Recalls own energy, determination to float away from platform, following flow of debris.
Tape 7 Side B: Piper Alpha disaster (cont'd). Decision to swim away from platform was crucial. Describes thoughts in water about daughter, football, holiday. Recalls looking at video of disaster. Never expected not to survive. Was fighting, shouting, swearing the whole way. Recalls being covered with falling debris, spray from Tharos hoses. Describes method of swimming through oil slick, way of coping, going into mode of small person relating to authority. Water on fire. In water for ages, picked up well away from platform. Mentions other survivors. Recalls difficulty of rescue. Survival suit full of water. Describes cleaning, medical treatment with cold Bachelors Peas. Feelings at small number of survivors picked up. Transferred later from supply vessel to Tharos by Billy Pugh basket. Describes chaotic scene in ship's medical centre. Upset at people filming. State of other survivors, concern of carers. Recalls last sight of Piper, feelings at time. Describes arrival at Aberdeen by helicopter, crowds, hopes there for more survivors, rumours of more helicopters coming, own way of coping with situation. Details re own last position on platform. Feelings about word hero. Had been doing 18th Century European Enlightenment course at Open University. Describes wife Pat's situation at time of disaster, difficulty getting in touch with her. Details re own feelings, treatment in hospital. Recalls need to reduce situation to manageable issues. Importance of help from Pat's sister, a psychiatric nurse. Pat also had help. Details. Recalls own obsession with Piper. Had no major physical damage. Protected from media by Pat. Recalls arrival in Aberdeen, conscious decision not to go offshore again. Describes sight of Aberdeen, countryside. |