Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

. It entered

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a " work-in" campaign at the company's

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s, involving

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

s Jimmy Airlie and Jimmy Reid, among others.

Formation

The Company was formed in February 1968 from the amalgamation of five Upper Clyde Shipbuilding firms: Fairfield in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

(Govan Division), Alexander Stephen and Sons in Linthouse (Linthouse Division),

Charles Connell and Company Charles Connell and Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Scotstoun in Glasgow on the River Clyde. History The company was founded by Charles Connell (1822–1894), who had served an apprenticeship with Robert Steele & Company ...

Scotstoun Scotstoun () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde (and Braehead ...

(Scotstoun Division) and John Brown and Company at

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

(Clydebank Division), as well as an associate subsidiary, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, in which UCS held a controlling stake of 51%. The consolidation was a result of the ''Geddes Report'', published in 1966, and the subsequent Shipbuilding Industry Act 1967 (sponsored by the

Minister of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

, then Anthony Wedgwood Benn) which recommended rationalisation and

horizontal integration Horizontal integration is the process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same level of the value chain, in the same industry. A company may do this via internal expansion or through mergers and acquisitions. The ...

of shipbuilding in the United Kingdom into large regional groups, aided with grants from the state Shipbuilding Industry Board, in order to achieve

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of Productivity, output produced per unit of cost (production cost). A decrease in ...

and better compete in the market for increasingly large

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which a ...

s like VLCCs. The creation of these groupings included Scott Lithgow on the Lower Clyde,

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

and Robb Caledon on the east coast of Scotland. The government had a 48.4% minority holding in the consortium and provided a £5.5m interest-free government loan over the first three years. UCS had a combined order book at the time worth £87m.

Collapse of UCS

In June 1971, the loss-making Upper Clyde Shipbuilders went into receivership (only one yard of the five, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, remained profitable but had left the joint venture in April 1970). In February 1971, in the wake of the emergency nationalisation of

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...

, the then

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government under

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

and the

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...

, John Davies, announced a policy that refused further state-support for "lame duck" industries, which led to a crisis of confidence amongst UCS

creditors A creditor or lender is a Party (law), party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided ...

and resulted in severe

cash flow Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), es ...

problems for the company. After the government refused UCS a £6m

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

loan as a

lender of last resort In public finance, a lender of last resort (LOLR) is a financial entity, generally a central bank, that acts as the provider of liquidity to a financial institution which finds itself unable to obtain sufficient liquidity in the interbank ...

, the company was forced to enter liquidation although the yards had a full order book and a forecasted profit in 1972.

Work-in

After the company's collapse, rather than striking, unions representing the shipyard's workers decided to conduct a " work-in" to complete orders already in place. The work-in was led by a group of young shop stewards, including Jimmy Reid, Jimmy Airlie, Sammy Barr and Sammy Gilmore. Reid wanted to ensure the workers projected the best image of the yard workers he possibly could, and he insisted on tight discipline. He addressed the workers at the yards, where he instructed them that there should be "no hooliganism, no vandalism and no bevvying rinking.

Work-in support

The shipbuilders' tactics worked, and public sympathy in the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

area and beyond was on the side of the workers who took part. That was backed up with demonstrations in Glasgow, one of which was attended by around 80,000 marchers. At one demonstration, on

Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge. History In ...

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

addressed those in attendance, and Matt McGinn and

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, musician, television presenter, artist and retired stand-up comedian. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his idiosyncratic and of ...

(both former shipyard workers) offered entertainment to the gathered crowd. The campaign was also well-backed financially, and at one meeting for the campaign, Jimmy Reid was able to announce that the campaign had received a £5,000 contribution from

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

, to which an attendee replied "but

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

's deid!" (dead).

Analysis of the work-in

The Thatcher Conservative government would be more far-reaching in its attempts to remove state involvement in industrial affairs.

Restructuring and aftermath

In February 1972, the Conservative government relented to the demands of the workers and restructured the yards around two new companies:

Govan Shipbuilders Govan Shipbuilders Ltd (GSL) was a British shipbuilding company based on the River Clyde at Glasgow in Scotland. It operated the former Fairfield Shipyard and took its name from the Govan area in which it was located. History The company wa ...

was established (formerly Fairfields), along with its subsidiary

Scotstoun Marine Ltd Scotstoun Marine Ltd was a shipbuilding company in Glasgow, Scotland, on the River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, an ...

(formerly Connells).

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

had already withdrawn from UCS in April 1970 and regained its status as an independent company (until 1977, when it was nationalised as part of

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation wa ...

, along with Govan Shipbuilders). A fourth yard, at Clydebank (formerly John Brown), was sold to

Marathon Oil Marathon Oil Corporation was an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. In November 2024, it was acquired by ConocoPhillips and absorbed into the company. Marathon was founded in Lima, Ohio, as the Ohio Oil Company. In 1899, the ...

as an oil-rig fabrication yard; which eventually closed in 2001. In 1999, two major shipyards on the Upper Clyde (the former Yarrow and Fairfields yards) were acquired by the defence contractor

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

and became part of BAE Systems Surface Ships.

References

External links

The Clyde-built ships database - lists over 22,000 ships built on the Clyde
{{Authority control Defunct shipbuilding companies of Scotland Companies based in Glasgow History of Glasgow British companies established in 1968 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1968 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1972 1968 establishments in Scotland 1972 disestablishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 1972 British Shipbuilders