Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Shop Stewards Committee (trade association: 1968-1972: Govan, Glasgow, Scotland)

In 1968, the Labour government pronounced that Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Ltd was to be responsible for shipbuilding in the Glasgow area. This decision resulted mainly from the findings of the Geddes Report on British shipbuilding. The report led the UK government to force the merger of the five existing shipbuilding companies from Clydebank to Govan, into one, which was to be known as the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Ltd. The five yards merged were: John Brown & Co (Clydebank) Ltd in Clydebank; Fairfields (Glasgow) Ltd in Govan; Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd in Linthouse; Charles Connell & Co Ltd in Scotstoun; and Yarrows & Co Ltd also in Scotstoun.

The Upper Clyde Shibuilders (UCS) Yard was to set the bench mark not only for shipbuilding, but for industry as a whole in Britain. At its formation, there were nearly 14,000 people in the work-force. Yet despite having a full orderbook and a forecasted profit in 1972, UCS was controversially forced to enter into liquidation in 1971 when the government refused a £6m working capital loan. Rather than go on strike, the traditional form of industrial action, the Shop Stewards Committee organised the UCS work-in of 1971-1972 . The intention was to complete the orders that the shipyards had in place, in an effort to force the government to intervene financially to save the yards.

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