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The ITV strike of 1979


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Old 12-08-2013, 12:37
Dan's Dad
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..... But the unions in the 70's were a complete joke .....
Why, apart from it being much-repeated right-wing dogma?
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Old 12-08-2013, 13:05
Caxton
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Same as the newspaper industry, the unions only had to delay the print run for a short time and the morning papers would miss the trains so end up being pulped.
Indeed, Eddie Shah put an end to the print unions that had held the industry to ransom far too many time. The print union workers were by any standards extremely well paid especially for the amount of actual output they did per worker.
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Old 12-08-2013, 13:53
Belligerence
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My friend who happens to know Anna Ford said the News at One was blacked out just before she was due to read the news. There was a walkout after several technicians were suspended,
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Old 12-08-2013, 14:00
i4u
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Would not new technology have had a significant impact?

One inch VT's, CMX edit controllers, smaller cameras, digital effects, paintbox etc. Video editing became less costly and less of an engineering skill and more creative.

Didn't there used to be just the 'big 5' facilities/OB companies that were allowed to work with broadcasters? And the big 5 saw the unions as an ally keeping new upstarts in their place. I think unions reps during the '79 strike originally went to facilities and told them to close during the strike, to prevent ITV programmes and commercials being made, but most facilities houses were working on non broadcast corporate material.I think it ended up with facilities houses remaining open, the staff making a contribution to the strike fund and promising not to provide material for ITV.

What impact did the strike have on the film industry, who made most of the TV commercials?

With the prolification of stations, production companies and edit facilities are there far more people now working in the TV industry than previously?
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Old 12-08-2013, 14:02
Ray266
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I remember that the last ITV region to come on after the strike was settled was here Yorkshire TV that came as no suprise because Yorkshire Televison had very bad management there, I can't remember though how long the strike went on for?
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Old 12-08-2013, 14:35
red16v
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... I also refer you all to Glenn's excellent Transdiffusion article about the 1979 ITV strike which gives the background to this and other strikes which affected both ITV and the BBC:

http://www.transdiffusion.org/tv/insidetv/history/union
Which is so lightweight and inaccurate with regards to the 1979 ITV strike, that it is barely worth reading.

The brief facts are, 1979 was period of high inflation throughout the UK and wage settlements generally across the country were quite high as a result. The ACTT met with ITV's management, at national level, and put forward a claim that would have resulted in a settlement generally in line with inflation. That was all that was wanted. But ITV thought they would be 'clever' and led by a particularly inept Industrial relations manager, offered a settlement that was considerably below inflation, naturally this was not acceptable to the ACTT.

Far from trying to negotiate a settlement, ITV dug their heels in and wouldn't budge. In effect ITV's management deliberately precipitated the strike which duly followed, and more than that, once the ACTT were 'locked out' from the premises individual senior ITV negotiators from ITV went on holiday preventing any sort of negotiations taking place at all.

ITV managements sat in their buildings, ACTT members muddled through. And so as the summer passed ITV became convinced members would return to work as the financial hardship on them increased. But they didn't.

ITV could see the traditional summer lull in their advertising revenue was coming to an end, and rather nervously peered into the abyss of the traditional increase in advertising revenue in the Autumn which was now at risk - through their own ineptitude. They had massively misjudged the mood of their ACTT workforce. The longer ITV failed to negotiate, or wouldn't negotiate, the more determined the ACTT workforce became that any eventual settlement would have to be greater than that originally asked for to have made the whole episode worthwhile.

So in the end ITV agreed to a settlement that gave ACTT members a considerable rise in their incomes - quite a bit over and above inflation. It had to be so. For ACTT members to have agreed to return to work for a wage increase equal to inflation would not have made financial sense given the individual financial losses incurred. ITV had no-one but themselves to blame for blank screens.

How do I know this? Like some others that post here, I was one of those staff who were forced out by a stupid, stupid ITV in the summer of 1979.
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Old 12-08-2013, 14:46
lotrjw
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Which is so lightweight and inaccurate with regards to the 1979 ITV strike, that it is barely worth reading.

The brief facts are, 1979 was period of high inflation throughout the UK and wage settlements generally across the country were quite high as a result. The ACTT met with ITV's management, at national level, and put forward a claim that would have resulted in a settlement generally in line with inflation. That was all that was wanted. But ITV thought they would be 'clever' and led by a particularly inept Industrial relations manager, offered a settlement that was considerably below inflation, naturally this was not acceptable to the ACTT.

Far from trying to negotiate a settlement, ITV dug their heels in and wouldn't budge. In effect ITV's management deliberately precipitated the strike which duly followed, and more than that, once the ACTT were 'locked out' from the premises individual senior ITV negotiators from ITV went on holiday preventing any sort of negotiations taking place at all.

ITV managements sat in their buildings, ACTT members muddled through. And so as the summer passed ITV became convinced members would return to work as the financial hardship on them increased. But they didn't.

ITV could see the traditional summer lull in their advertising revenue was coming to an end, and rather nervously peered into the abyss of the traditional increase in advertising revenue in the Autumn which was now at risk - through their own ineptitude. They had massively misjudged the mood of their ACTT workforce. The longer ITV failed to negotiate, or wouldn't negotiate, the more determined the ACTT workforce became that any eventual settlement would have to be greater than that originally asked for to have made the whole episode worthwhile.

So in the end ITV agreed to a settlement that gave ACTT members a considerable rise in their incomes - quite a bit over and above inflation. It had to be so. For ACTT members to have agreed to return to work for a wage increase equal to inflation would not have made financial sense given the individual financial losses incurred. ITV had no-one but themselves to blame for blank screens.

How do I know this? Like some others that post here, I was one of those staff who were forced out by a stupid, stupid ITV in the summer of 1979.
it does seem we have some right wing posters in this thread who just want to sing Thatchers praises! I did think there was more to it than what some people were making out!
Oh and as for the 'bullying in the workplace' argument that some have said was union bullying, what about management bullying workers?
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Old 12-08-2013, 16:24
Dan's Dad
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it does seem we have some right wing posters in this thread who just want to sing Thatchers praises!

Oh and as for the 'bullying in the workplace' argument that some have said was union bullying, what about management bullying workers?
Are you perhaps referring to this exchange
Which Is why bullying and intimidation at work places today is rife and it's thanks to her that it happens
The unions only have themselves to blame .
It may have taken over a decade after the strike but the tv workers were only one of the industries who discovered what goes around comes around.
Serves them right
Maybe 'majorgart' could explain his remarks, especially with regard to the representation of bullied and harassed staff who relied upon their
accredited Trade Union representatives to mediate in and resolve the less than pleasant work-place environment in which they found themselves.

The role of an active Trade Unionist bears little relationship to that portrayed by the right-wing gutter press.

The BBC recently published a report on bullying, the matters reported upon where routinely dealt with, in decades gone by, through everyday union - management liaison

those who are proud of Thatcher's weakening of the Trade Union movement could well think about one of the reasons that the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain has become openly known as the 'nasty party'.
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Old 12-08-2013, 17:00
lotrjw
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Are you perhaps referring to this exchange
Maybe 'majorgart' could explain his remarks, especially with regard to the representation of bullied and harassed staff who relied upon their
accredited Trade Union representatives to mediate in and resolve the less than pleasant work-place environment in which they found themselves.

The role of an active Trade Unionist bears little relationship to that portrayed by the right-wing gutter press.

The BBC recently published a report on bullying, the matters reported upon where routinely dealt with, in decades gone by, through everyday union - management liaison

those who are proud of Thatcher's weakening of the Trade Union movement could well think about one of the reasons that the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain has become openly known as the 'nasty party'.
yes I think thats roughly the post I was thinking about and I agree with what you say too.
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Old 12-08-2013, 17:30
fedman
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Congratulations 'red16v' on an excellent summary, just how I remember events.
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Old 12-08-2013, 18:18
northlad
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I remember that the last ITV region to come on after the strike was settled was here Yorkshire TV that came as no suprise because Yorkshire Televison had very bad management there, I can't remember though how long the strike went on for?
Wasnt Paul Fox the main opponent of the unions at ITV,and really was very anti unions.Heard he was the cause of most of the troubles at YTV, with very poor relationship with staff,and running a very autocratic company.
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Old 12-08-2013, 18:24
Tony Richards
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Strange to recall that ITV did have a lot of issues with the unions. TV-AM only happened because ITV couldn't negociate reasonable rates with staff for breakfast TV. In the end a new company had to be formed because it was the only way forward. As staff were employed for early morning work they were paid for normal work, not overtime.
I'm certainly no right winger but things did get tricky at one time.
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Old 12-08-2013, 19:18
Glenn A
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The ITV strike should have been solved quickly, but seemed to rumble on and caused the network huge damage as nothing was being produced and viewers took a long time to return to the station- the 1979 Christmas schedule was a disaster. It would have been better for ITV management to try and end the strike earlier as it proved very costly to the regional contractors in lost revenue.
However, ITV did recover and for the first half of the eighties had the bulk of the top ten rated shows.
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Old 12-08-2013, 19:53
PunksNotDead
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Neither can i because few would care, missing Coronation Street for a few weeks would be no tragedy.
Try telling that to those complaining when the show is moved due to a football match
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Old 12-08-2013, 20:32
jenzie
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and what a way to come back ..... with blinding golden letters and cheesy music

but KYTV did it better

also having the muppets, 3-2-1 and quatermass on that night was sodding BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 12-08-2013, 20:38
Face Of Jack
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The ITV strike should have been solved quickly, but seemed to rumble on and caused the network huge damage as nothing was being produced and viewers took a long time to return to the station- the 1979 Christmas schedule was a disaster. It would have been better for ITV management to try and end the strike earlier as it proved very costly to the regional contractors in lost revenue.
However, ITV did recover and for the first half of the eighties had the bulk of the top ten rated shows.
I missed ITV for that period. I went on holiday to Scotland for a couple of weeks. Stupidly I tuned into ITV to see if it was on there! (I was only 18)
Pleased when it came back on - "Welcome to ITV" or whatever - because I was sick of BBC by then!!
And ITV came back with a vengeance....and won ratings back for quite a while.......until they went generic!
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Old 12-08-2013, 20:55
majorgart
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Why, apart from it being much-repeated right-wing dogma?
I lived through the 70's.
I was in the power cuts , the forced closure of tv at 1030 thanks to the strikes , strikes by power workers , strikes by miners , and the ITV strike was also a last straw for me too after years of little strikes at ITV and BBC .
Top of the Pops and other programmes disrupted because the lighting people walked out and nobody else was allowed to go near their work - strikes because the personnel wanted more money simply because tv was being made in colour instead of B&W.
Blank pages in newspapers because the unions didn't like the editorial content so refused to print it ... I could go on.

The tv industry was only one example of many and the UK population were sick and tired of union stupidity by the late 70's which is why Thatcher was voted in instead of the then union lapdog that was the Labour party.
It was why few complained about Thatchers new laws regarding strikes . It was why New Labour didn't feel they needed to change any of them either.

For their initial needs unions were a good idea but through the 60's and 70's they held too much power and were always willing to strike at the drop of a hat which is why an ever increasing section of the country realised they had almost outlived their usefulness.

It took a leader with the guts of Thatcher to stand up to the unions and give them what they deserved after decades of disruption - and that was unemployment.

Off topic a bit - but even before Scargill became NUM leader it was known he wanted to fight the Government so it was no surprise when the strike began ( without a ballot IIRC) and the only sad thing about the miners strike was that so many were so stupid for so long to allow a single power hungry man to not only help the Government to speed up its planned downsizing of the industry but also enable them to do it on the cheap without paying redundancy as the miners who went on strike all got sacked

Indeed, Eddie Shah put an end to the print unions that had held the industry to ransom far too many time. The print union workers were by any standards extremely well paid especially for the amount of actual output they did per worker.
Wasn't it Murdoch who smashed the print unions when he wanted to move The Sun to Wapping ?
That was an ongoing dispute but in true Thatcher style Murdoch carried on regardless and the unions lost out again

it does seem we have some right wing posters in this thread who just want to sing Thatchers praises! I did think there was more to it than what some people were making out!
Are you perhaps referring to this exchange
Maybe 'majorgart' could explain his remarks, especially with regard to the representation of bullied and harassed staff who relied upon their
accredited Trade Union representatives to mediate in and resolve the less than pleasant work-place environment in which they found themselves.

The role of an active Trade Unionist bears little relationship to that portrayed by the right-wing gutter press.

The BBC recently published a report on bullying, the matters reported upon where routinely dealt with, in decades gone by, through everyday union - management liaison

those who are proud of Thatcher's weakening of the Trade Union movement could well think about one of the reasons that the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain has become openly known as the 'nasty party'.
I was in a trade union for 17 years so I know what they could be like and most union reps seem to be there for the same reason as many others in positions of power - to feather their own nest.
Most of the union reps I had went onto become management in the company.
As you say , the unions do have their uses but they were going way beyond their remit in the 60's and 70's and were joining in meetings about the running of companies .
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Old 12-08-2013, 20:59
Steve9214
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I recall the BBC strike - 1978 I think.

They were in a "no-win" situation as the Callaghan Govt decreed they must not offer more than a certain %, but inflation was higher than that % so the BBC was not allowed to settle.

IIRC during the strike, they had a caption up saying the Unions were on strike as "the BBC had to adhere to the Govt pay guidelines" which was condemned by all the Labour Govt ministers at the time as being "political".
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Old 12-08-2013, 21:00
majorgart
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Congratulations 'red16v' on an excellent summary, just how I remember events.
I write from the POV of a viewer .
You will hardly get a balanced view from someone who apparently was working for ITV at the time anymore than you'll get a balanced view from any miners sacked in 1985
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Old 12-08-2013, 21:11
Steve9214
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Eddie Shah owned the Messenger group in the North West and IIRC both the Stockport Messeneger and Warrington messenger in 1983 saw huge pitched battles with flying pickets (miners, steelworkers etc) bussed in to support the print unions.

This either led to (or was the first test of) the anti secondary-picketing laws
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Old 12-08-2013, 21:24
majorgart
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Eddie Shah owned the Messenger group in the North West and IIRC both the Stockport Messeneger and Warrington messenger in 1983 saw huge pitched battles with flying pickets (miners, steelworkers etc) bussed in to support the print unions.

This either led to (or was the first test of) the anti secondary-picketing laws
Were the flying picket laws in that early?
I can't recall the exact chain of events but didn't Thatcher start by forcing unions to give 7 days notice in order to stop the lightning strikes - the exact same type of strikes that caused much of the tv disruption at BBC and ITV ?
Did all the union changes come into force at the same time?
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Old 12-08-2013, 21:28
inothernews
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I won't waste space by quoting the major's post- but you are completely right.

Inflation over 10% and pay rises the same to keep up. A never ending cycle of 10% pay rises creating 10% inflation, as everyone had to keep up with everyone else.

And didn't ITV have a lot of 'Spanish practises' they wanted to defend (5 people doing the work of 2) Ofcourse they didn't like ITV getting tough. I'm sure it wasn't just about pay. They were scared to death an 8 hour shift might actually mean an 8 hour shift.
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Old 12-08-2013, 22:48
Steven Oliver
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I recall the BBC strike - 1978 I think.

They were in a "no-win" situation as the Callaghan Govt decreed they must not offer more than a certain %, but inflation was higher than that % so the BBC was not allowed to settle.

IIRC during the strike, they had a caption up saying the Unions were on strike as "the BBC had to adhere to the Govt pay guidelines" which was condemned by all the Labour Govt ministers at the time as being "political".
IIRC the BBC even went to the extent of having two schedules prepared for Christmas 1978 in case the strike wasn't solved by then. It was during that strike Sale of the Century racked up the highest-ever audience for an ITV quiz show - 21.2 million viewers. Just under a year later it was the BBC's turn to claim its highest-ever ratings when ITV went on strike.
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Old 13-08-2013, 07:09
finlux
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No - it was an Avengers Mark One production although LWT co -produced their next series which was The Professionals
Ah, I See! I just remember the LWT front/endcaps during the programme & assumed it was their production.
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Old 13-08-2013, 10:09
Caxton
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Wasn't it Murdoch who smashed the print unions when he wanted to move The Sun to Wapping ?
.
As the owner of six local newspapers, Shah employed anti-trade union laws introduced by the Thatcher governments to defeat the print unions after national strikes that went on for seven months – despite receiving death threats. He was the first person to invoke Margaret Thatcher's anti-union laws to force the unions to the bargaining table. The Wapping dispute followed three years later.

Shah first confronted the trade unions at his Warrington print works and the Manchester news offices in 1983. As the owner of the Warrington Messenger, he sacked six workers in a declared anti-union move. In response, the National Graphical Association (NGA) began mass picketing of the Messenger's offices.

On 30 November, over four thousand trade unionists attended a mass picket. The police brought in riot-trained Police Support Units from five surrounding areas and, after some pushing and shoving, the confrontation became physical. The NGA speaker van was attacked and overturned by police, while squads with full riot gear repeatedly charged the pickets. The National Graphical Association immediately suspended mass picketing. For the first time in post-war Britain, para-military policing more akin to that used in Northern Ireland had been used to attack strikers in an industrial dispute
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Shah
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