Working towards a better future in a decade to forget

David Mclean finds de-industrialisation hit Scotland hard with a long list of mines, factories and shipyards closing

For many Scots workers it was a decade to forget, as the nation suffered under the weight of industrial decline, bitter labour disputes and rising unemployment.

Heavy industry was on the wane as UK manufacturing firms struggled to compete with developing countries in the Far East.

De-industrialisation was a rapid process in the 1970s and it hit Scotland hard. A long list of coal mines, factories and shipyards were closed completely, while the many industries that survived the onslaught saw their operations drastically reduced.

The sea change meant labour disputes were common. A breakdown in wage negotiations between the NUM and National Coal Board triggered the 1972 UK miners strike, while pickets at Grangemouth refinery in 1974 resulted in long queues of traffic at petrol stations across the Central Belt.

Rather than host a strike, in 1971, the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders staged an occupation and work-in protest in a bid to save their yard from closure. Leading the charge was trade union activist the late Jimmy Reid who made an impassioned speech to workers that would receive international acclaim and ultimately secure the yard’s future, at least in the short-term.

Strike culture culminated with the infamous Winter of Discontent during 1978-79 that was characterised by a sustained series of strikes by trade unions demanding better pay and improved working conditions.

The widespread strikes saw a multitude of essential services practically grind to a halt, exacerbated by a bitterly harsh winter.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. The news in October 1970 that British Petroleum had discovered a vast reservoir of crude oil in the Forties field off the Aberdeen coast had a profound impact on the economy of Scotland and the UK as a whole.

The first mainland sales of Forties oil were made in 1975 and a brand new source of prosperity that would last many decades was born in the process.

Society was also becoming fairer. The Equal Pay Act 1970 demanded that women doing the same work as men were to be paid equally, while the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act saw more women begin to occupy job roles once dominated by men.