Defending the right to work: the 1983 Timex workers’ occupation in Dundee

Wright, V. , Phillips, J. and Tomlinson, J. (2021) Defending the right to work: the 1983 Timex workers’ occupation in Dundee. Labour History Review, 86(1), pp. 63-90. (doi: 10.3828/lhr.2021.4)

Abstract

In January 1983 the US-owned multinational Timex, a prominent employer in Dundee since 1946, announced it would cease production of mechanical wristwatches in the city. Substantial redundancies would accompany closure of the Milton of Craigie production unit where 2,000 mainly male skilled engineers and toolmakers were employed. About 2,000 mainly female assembly-line workers would be retained at another factory in the city, at Camperdown, as Timex completed its diversification into subcontracting work in electronics. With this announcement Timex violated the workforce’s moral economy. Significant changes were only permissible where negotiated with union representatives and where the security of those affected was preserved. Capital was leaving Dundee, despite the firm’s receipt of many grants from national and local government. On 8 April Milton workers resisted compulsory redundancy by occupying their plant. Timex was not stopped from ending watchmaking, but compulsory redundancies were averted and a union voice was preserved. Those who wished were transferred to Camperdown. The occupation was a crucial episode in Dundee’s deindustrialization, but has been obscured in popular memory by the bitter dispute accompanying the firm’s final departure from the city in 1993.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Phillips, Professor Jim and Wright, Dr Valerie and Tomlinson, Professor Jim
• Authors: Wright, V., Phillips, J., and Tomlinson, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Journal Name: Labour History Review
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• ISSN: 0961-5652
• ISSN (Online): 1745-8188
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Liverpool University Press
• First Published: First published in Labour History Review 86(1):63-90
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
173729		Employment, politics and culture	James Phillips	Leverhulme Trust (LEVERHUL)	RPG-2016-283	S&PS - Economic & Social History