Bill Sirs
William Sirs (6 January 1920 – 16 June 2015) was a British trade unionist, who served as general secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) from 1975 to 1985.[1]
Bill Sirs was born and raised in Hartlepool, one of 10 children.[1] He left school at 14 and became a crane operator in the iron and steel industry, becoming active in forerunners of the ISTC. He remained in north-east England until he moved south with his two children and his wife Joan.[2]
Sirs is best remembered for his involvement in the steelworkers' strike of 1980.[3] During the action, Sirs came into conflict with Ian MacGregor, the man appointed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to slim down British Steel Corporation, then a nationalised industry. Sirs was quoted as saying, "We are being looked upon as the worst producing steel nation in Europe".[4]
Sirs subsequently incurred the wrath of other trade unionists by his intervention in the miners' strike of 1984.[5]
Sirs was a member of the St Ermin's group, an organised group of right-wing trade unionists meeting at the St Ermin's Hotel with the aim of preventing the Bennite left taking over the Labour Party.[6]
Works
- Hard Labour. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985.
References
- Obituary in Daily Telegraph
- William (Bill) Sirs: Obituary Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Ian Donovan, "Strategic confrontation in the making", Weekly Worker 519 Thursday 11 March 2004
- BBC On This Day, 2 January 1980.
- "Enter Bill Sirs, kneeling", Tribune, 6 July 1984
- Martin Adeney; Denis MacShane (22 June 2015). "Bill Sirs obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
| Trade union offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jim Diamond |
Assistant General Secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation 1973 – 1975 |
Succeeded by Roy Evans |
| Preceded by Dai Davies |
General Secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation 1975 – 1985 |
Succeeded by Roy Evans |
| Preceded by Dai Davies |
Iron, Steel and Minor Metal Trades representative on the General Council of the TUC 1975 – 1982 |
Succeeded by Council reorganised |
| Preceded by Geoffrey Drain |
Trades Union Congress representative to the AFL-CIO 1985 |
Succeeded by Fred Jarvis |