| Description | Tape 1 Side A RONALD MCDONALD born 14 September 1946, Airdrie, Lanarkshire. Maternal grandfather a millwright. Details re family names. Grandparents had big influence on family. Grandmother a strong character. Working class upbringing. Paternal grandfather a steelworker, grandmother an Irish immigrant. Details re names. Paternal grandparents Catholic, maternal grandparents protestants. Mentions tensions between religious groups in Scotland. Brought up protestant in Congregational Church. Father a printer. Parents' names. Is eldest of 4 children. Lived in prefab house built by German prisoners of war. Details re childhood life, parents. Father's attitude to own involvement in politics. Recalls influence of newspapers in childhood, interest in Cold War etc. Father was a union man, Labour voter. Recalls own interest in YCL (Young Communist League), though didn't join. Recalls influence of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and other peace activists, Strickland Press. Details re schooling. Loathed school. Describes an incident that may have led to attitude to school, authority etc. Left school at 15. Feelings about Rangers/Celtic tribalism among football followers. Recalls religious tensions in own family. Best friend was a Catholic. Recalls mother's reaction at decision to go to sea. Story illustrating sectarianism under the surface in Coatbridge. Recalls interest in History, English at school. Recalls feelings about expectations for people to get apprenticeships and work in trades, parents' disappointment at own attitude. Got sack from first job (in an office), pressure to take apprenticeship. Mentions involvement with political activism and CND, Committee of 100. Involved in incidents, arrested three times for unlawful assembly, demonstration in George Square 1963. Details. One incident brought everything to a head.
Tape 1 Side B Treasurer of Committee of 100, Scotland, at age 15. Recalls delivering secret document related to possibility of nuclear attack, equipped underground regional government centres. Comments on Civil Defence at the time. Realisation about need to make personal decisions re nuclear issue etc. Took part in demonstration in Edinburgh, march to Government nuclear shelter, on television news. Father's reaction. Sacked from work at 16. Feelings about direct action, nuclear issue, civil defence, public attitude. War preparation was under way. Details re Committee of 100 membership, activities. Background to going to sea. Mentions desire to go to a peace rally in Hiroshima 1962-3. 1963 went to National Sea Training School. Spent 8-9 years at sea as seaman. Details re ship, line etc. Involved with Seamen's Union, Reform Movement. Details re 1961-2 strike. Recalls branch meetings, shipboard grievances etc leading to 1966 strike - in Japan at time. Closed shop situation at sea. Mentions size then of merchant service, union. Deep sense of grievance among seamen at treatment during, after war, wage cuts etc. Details re pay situation. Merchant navy casualty level during war. No recognition, medals etc. New militancy after war. Own involvement of union was as a member. Big changes in merchant navy imperceptible. Impact of Suez Canal shutdown, new ship types, non-British shipbuilding, containerisation, demise of North Atlantic passenger fleet etc. Enjoyed being at sea. Reference to Vietnam War. Recalls seeing 9 B52 bombers. Reference to Ben Line. Went to Communist China - reaction. Explains decision not to join Communist Party. Details re voyage to China, events leading to sinking of ship on reef 1966.
Tape 2 Side A Details of shipwreck off Chinese coast, 1966, rescue. Stayed in Peace Hotel, Shanghai. History of hotel, past occupants. Describes entertainment by Chinese, seeing behind the Iron Curtain, hearing Chinese view of Vietnam War. Comments on sound procedural handling of safety by Merchant Service. Recalls different attitudes to safety after coming ashore to work in construction 1971. Developments in personal life. Background to coming ashore having intended to spend life at sea. Impact of death of sister. Details re work at sea, prospects, feelings of growing apart from life in UK. Recalls final decision not to return to sea. Details re first factory job ashore, next long term job in construction industry, working on crane erection. 1976 got work at Kishorn on Ninian Central platform. Later worked at Highland Fabricators, Nigg. Details re Kishorn. Mentions Phillips' Maureen contract. Earned good money in the industry. Describes work routine at Kishorn. Recalls recruitment to Highland Fabricators through chance conversation in pub. Kishorn was a shambles. Describes. Worked as a rigger. Explains. Recalls high injury rate. 5 men killed, many serious injuries. Union situation was fragmented. Details. Inadequate safety supervision. Financial control of the job lost at one point, cash crisis 1976-7. Details re situation, urgency for Ninian to be operational, implications for UK economy. Money no object. Own attitude then to trade union movement. Recalls instance of site-level militancy on Ninian job. Reference to strikes. Most militant workers were steel erectors. Recalls instance of shop stewards being bought off. Compares Kishorn with Highland Fabricators. More positive management influence under Americans at Nigg than under British at Kishorn. Details.
Tape 2 Side B Contrast in practices at Kishorn and Nigg. Describes situation at Nigg, well-planned attitude to work, management acceptance of role of workforce. Recalls 1978 strike that benefited both management, workforce. Safety prime consideration at Highland Fabricators, no pressure to take shortcuts. Some hook-ups were harem-scarem. Worked at Nigg, Kishorn, on Phillips Maureen contract, till 1981. Improvement in conditions at Kishorn from previously. Kishorn a weird job in 1980s, high level of control. Details of work routine, wages. Gives example of discipline on site. Recalls company's efforts to get unions on side, deal signed before job started, arrangements signed away by unions in establishing site agreement. No strategic planning by unions. Explains requirements of trade unionism in construction industry, including site-level activism, need for dynamic balance. Fragmented trade unionism at Kishorn in early stage, careful approach taken by management for Maureen contract, suppression of site-level activism. Examples of blatant tactics of management to get rid of troublesome activists through redundancies. Response of workforce - plan to occupy camp. Management response, use of police. Everybody sacked. Details. Mentions role as shop steward at Kishorn. Recalls negotiations over conditions for annual review, division within union. People written out with connivance of full time officials. Reason for insurrection. Details re plans for occupation of camp, company response. Recalls 1979 offshore construction strike, not widely reported. Recalls Aberdeen meeting with Bear Facts Committee who were organising offshore. Details re discontent with hook-up agreement. Tension between Committee and full time officials. Recalls attitude of right wing officials to rank and file militancy, their ambivalence, management attitude to them. Describes situation in 1979 strike.
Tape 3 Side A 1979 offshore strike was acrimonious. Details. Explains ineffectiveness of pickets, fragmentation, lack of support of national full time officials for local action. Details re national context, urgent need for oil. Unions bitterly divided along section, demarcation lines, ill-equipped to work out what was going on. Identification of some officials with establishment. Numbers of people involved in the strike. Drilling industry started off as anti-union. Construction workers were strongly pro-trade union. Possible reasons for low media profile of 1979 strike. Local officials were ordered to carry on the strike from the highest level in London. Reference to Tommy Lafferty, his MBE award at about this time. This strike killed development of rank and file organisation in offshore industry. Explains. Mentions workers sacked, blacked, disillusioned with unions, officials. Recalls difficulty convincing colleagues offshore re trade unionism in 1980s. Background to going offshore in 1981. Details re platform construction sequence. Feelings about going offshore. First went to Marathon Oil Brae Alpha hook-up. Details re platform, final stages of construction. Describes work environment, accommodation. Details re high numbers of workers. It was a union job under the hook-up agreement. Details. Was a shop steward. Explains role dealing with grievances, meeting with management etc. Importance of union presence. Details re two competing companies working on contract, keeping each other in line. Recalls Alistair Cameron, Construction Superintendent. Describes a life-threatening incident involving the bridge between barge and platform that led to an offshore strike. Details re dangers when crossing bridge in heavy weather, pressures from management. Conflict between Barge Master and Construction Superintendent before collapse of bridge.
Tape 3: Side B Collapse of bridge (cont'd). Tommy Lafferty's reaction. Explains resulting strike, attitude of men. Expectation that someone would die. Demand for safety criteria covering bridge. Details re negotiations with management, role of shop stewards. In 1982 annual review negotiations, shop stewards demanded establishment of elected safety committees. Reaction of management, Tommy Lafferty - told to drop demand. Comments on place of shop stewards in development of the industry. No safety committees till after Piper Alpha. After construction, hook-up phase, no union agreement covering regular platform crews. Big struggle in 1980s was to get maintenance (post hook-up) agreement. Unions had been used in earlier stages but were now being discarded. No coherent strategic planning by unions in 1970s. 1980 Alexander Kielland collapse, most casualties British. Cause of disaster. During licensing rounds in 1975, pressure on Labour Government by unions to make union recognition a condition of license. Reference to Tony Benn, Inter-Union Offshore Oil Committee (IUOOC). Details re Aberdeen Trades Council initiative re organising for North Sea unionisation 1972. Mentions 1975 compromise memorandums - only concrete achievement in 1970s. Significance of these. Workforce not aware of much of what going on. 1975 memoranda not used effectively by unions. Impact of industry on Scotland: should have been obvious that oil companies only passing through. Details re national economic situation. Comments on Scottish investment in oil industry, use of imported materials etc. Recalls OSO (Offshore Supplies Office) expressing frustration at non-use of British materials. Impact of American culture on industry often overplayed. Anti-unionism driven by British interests. Recalls American attitude to 'white coolies'. Background to Bear Facts Committee, their impact, disappearance.
Tape 4 Side A Background to start of Bear Facts Committee, newsletter c1985. Involvement of Tommy Lafferty. Urgency re need for safety committees. Regular deaths offshore, relatively unreported. Bear Facts Committee ran out of steam in mid-80s largely because of non-response, impotence of workforce. Explains. 1986 oil price collapse, wage cuts. Recalls significance of 1976 Dixilyn strike which was killed off by intimidation, violence. Compares attitudes of operators and contractors, relationship between them. Recalls a personnel officer who signed an agreement with a union, thereby consigning his company to the backwaters. Describes approaches of various companies. Mentions Thistle, (BNOC, later Britoil, BP). Very relaxed, no one in charge on Thistle. In contrast, there were control freaks in Phillips Petroleum. Was supposed to be on Piper Alpha the night of the disaster. Recalls reputation of Piper, Claymore, eg sea being ablaze from overspill from Piper flare. Details re safety situation. Mentions Armand Hammer. By 1986 workforce impotent, number of major incidents, feeling of injustice by workers. Some contractors frustrated, having to re-tender. Explains. Recalls taking wage cuts when with McDermotts in mid-80s. McDermotts decided to leave the North Sea. Was made redundant, victimised by Press (later AMEC) who took over from McDermotts. Press's attitude to employment of activists. Went on the dole. No redress against victimisation. Details of own situation, being run off Thistle, getting job on Brae Bravo hook-up. Circumstance leading to becoming shop steward on Tern Alpha. Details re dispute over a bridge (between platform and accommodation). Invited, summer 1988, to do 2-year contract on Piper Alpha. Reason for not taking job. Recalls hearing of Piper Alpha disaster.
Tape 4 Side B Reaction to Piper Alpha disaster. It had been a question of when, not why? Explains. Occidental not the only delinquent. Strike held on Tern the day after the disaster because of Spaniards being sacked. Details. After Piper, felt frustrated, deflated by blacklisting, failure to get workers up and running, disbanding of Bear Facts Committee. Details. Attitude of oil companies. Cullen enquiry set up. Bear Facts Committee came together. One of first acts, to have a sit-in offshore on first day of Cullen enquiry to make point about safety. Details re arrangement of event, reaction of a construction superintendent, media coverage in Aberdeen. All post-Piper actions aimed at re-activating drive for union agreement, improved safety management, requirement for safety committees to be extended offshore. Details re people involved in movement, own role. Meetings re organising offshore were increasingly well attended. Details. When Tern hook-up ended was only one of 600 to be made redundant. Took victimisation claim. Chaired meetings which continued to grow. Approached to run meetings for fee raised from whip-round. Offshore industrial action organised. Details. Offered settlement on claim. Details. Offered job as supervisor in Forties field, reason for refusing. Organised Summer of Discontent 1989 in northern sector of North Sea. Details. Some positive reaction - from Shell, contractors. Explains advent of Offshore Industry Liaison Committee. Explains name, its origin. Reason for its not being a union - anti-union legislation would be powerless. Explains necessary ingredients for effective activism, reason for collapse of official unions offshore, OILC tactics. Recalls organisation of 1989 stoppages, outcomes, best day of action ever.
Tape 5 Side A Explains OILC tactics organising actions offshore, stoppages. By September 1989, some spectacular wage rises in response. Details. Own limited work options at the time. Feelings about being a union official. Reasons for limits to Tommy Lafferty's involvement. Details re full establishment of OILC and Offshore Information Centre Limited, a charity. Collections held offshore, network built up. Hundreds came every week to meetings around UK. When 1990 actions started, members clear re purpose. Reasons for dispute. Mentions problem of shutdown valves. Explains tactics for 7-week campaign of disruption. Dispute all offshore. Explains. Some parts of dispute worked, some didn't. Reaction of managements. Details re outcomes, failures, publicity. Impact on Cullen enquiry. Did not get trade union agreement. Explains national situation. Mentions ambulance workers. OILC success in wage rises. Law could not be used against OILC. Explains situation re other unions. Reference to London Tube Drivers. Law changed 1991 to cover unofficial actions. Details re numbers of offshore workers sacked, key individuals victimised. Demonstration before Christmas 1990 at Shell. Shell's conciliatory response. Effect of John Major's trade union legislation on OILC. 1991 increase in workforce, opportunity for OILC re getting trade union agreement. New agenda of more formal union unity. Reason for favouring not one offshore union but confederation. Reaction of other unions, separate secret dealings with contractors etc. Impact of new legislation on OILC. Details re bitter debate, vote whether or not to become a union. Became first trade union established in Scotland for long time. Had to start from scratch, organise formal membership, dues, benefits, etc.
Tape 5 Side B Recalls intense period working with OILC. Effect on personal life of work. Describes own focussed approach. Feelings about early phase of OILC. Compares with later phase where emphasis was day-to-day administration, wages, servicing individuals, tribunals etc. Difficult to keep cutting edge of OILC. Recalls Cormorant Alpha helicopter incident 1992, litigation. OILC found itself alone representing all families involved. Mentions fragmented approach of other unions to offshore issues, compares with attitude of OILC. Explains level of trade union recognition offshore. Mentions catering workers. Aim of OILC to represent exclusively interests of offshore workers. Comments on ascendancy in UK of big union bureaucracies based on professional bureaucrats acting for workforce - incompatible with workforce-driven approach of OILC. Explains objection to collaborative approach of New Labour, union leaderships. Feelings about impact of ascendancy of big capital globally on working people, positions taken by trade unions. Explains original aims of OILC, what it sought to achieve. Comments on suggestion that OILC is an anachronism. Few examples in UK of industrial unionism. Explains. Mentions Fire Brigades Union. OILC consciously bottom-up, owned by people offshore. Dichotomy of interests between oil companies and workforce. OILC puzzles many up corporate tree. Incomprehension at what it's about. Background to leaving OILC as General Secretary 1997. Recalls having to deal with internal difficulties, 1995 power struggle with faction in Glasgow, resolution of situation by ballot. Mentions opening of social club which was not a success. Problem, earlier on, of OILC being one-man band. Recalls election of successor, OILC coming of age. Now working as writer. Details. Comments on continuing relevance of OILC. |