William MacLeod Speirs (8 March 1952 – 23 September 2009) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

trade union leader, a socialist and internationalist. He was General Secretary of the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh ...

. Speirs was a key figure in left-wing

Scottish politics The politics of Scotland () operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a country. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the Sc ...

, chairing the Scottish council of the Labour party at the 1987 general election, and being a prominent member of various groups of the

Bennite Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Me ...

left, e.g. the

Labour Co-ordinating Committee The Labour Co-ordinating Committee (LCC) was a faction in the British Labour Party, established in 1978 and wound-up in 1998. It moved from a group established to challenge the leadership of the party from the left to the vanguard of Tony Blair's d ...

and

Scottish Labour Action Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

. Speirs was also a high-profile advocate of

Scottish devolution Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers (excluding powers over reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United ...

, e.g. he was instrumental in the creation of Scotland United, was a member of the

Scottish Constitutional Convention The Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC) was an association of Scottish political parties, churches and other civic groups, that developed a framework for Scottish devolution. History Campaign for a Scottish Assembly The Conventi ...

, and was a member of the group that drafted the key document Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right in 1995

Early life, education and work

Bill Speirs was born in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

and grew up in

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

. He went to school at the John Neilson Institution in Paisley and took a first class honours degree in Politics as the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. After graduating he continued with research at university and then worked as a lecturer at

Cardonald College Cardonald College was a medium-sized Further education institute located in Glasgow's South Side, in Scotland. Officially opened in 1972, it had over 12,000 full-time and part-time students. Cardonald College merged with Anniesland College an ...

Scottish TUC

Bill Speirs began his career with the

when he was appointed to the post of Assistant Secretary in 1978. He became Deputy General Secretary in 1988, succeeding John Henry. In 1998, he became General Secretary, following Campbell Christie. He retired from the STUC in 2006 due to ill health.

Scottish Labour Party

Bill Speirs was a lifelong member of the Labour Party. He was active in the

National Organisation of Labour Students National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(NOLS) when he was at university. He served on the party's Scottish Executive in the late 1970s and the 1980s and was Chair of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

in 1987. In 1994, he was a signatory of the statement that launched the Scottish campaign for the retention of

Clause IV Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book which sets out the aims and values of the British Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskel ...

, which in turn led to the creation of the

Campaign for Socialism Campaign for Socialism (CfS) is an autonomous political organisation of Scottish Labour Party members and supporters who campaign for left-wing policies and candidates within the party. In 2016, CfS agreed to a joint membership scheme with Moment ...

Personal life

With his first wife Lynda, Bill had two children: a daughter, Jaki; and a son, David. The marriage ended in 1990. In October 2002, Bill married his partner Pat Stuart in Glasgow. Bill died in Glasgow on 23 September 2009 following a long illness.

References

External links

Bill Speirs
- Daily Telegraph obituary
BBC: Union champion Speirs dies at 57 - Wed 23 Sep 2009STV: Tributes paid to trade unionist Bill Speirs - report & video - Wed 23 Sep 2009Obituary
- Wed 23 Sep 2009 '' The Herald''
Obituary
- Thu 24 Sep 2009 ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

''
Bill Speirs: Trade union leader, socialist, internationalist - Obituary
Fri 25 Sep 2009 ''

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

''
Obituary
-

Cathy Peattie Catherine "Cathy" Peattie (born 24 November 1951, Grangemouth, Falkirk) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Falkirk East constituency from the 1999 Scottish Parliament election unt ...

MSP in The Citizen (

) - Thu 24 Sep 2009
George Galloway pays tribute at Bill's funeral STV VideoAn Appreciation in the Scotsman by Gordon McDougall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speirs, Bill 2009 deaths 1952 births People from Dumbarton Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Trade unionists from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Scottish Labour politicians General secretaries of the Scottish Trades Union Congress