Bishop, Stan
2013 "Bishop, Stan", 2013, HistoryTalk Stan joined British Rail at the age of 15 in 1957, serving a 5 year engineering apprenticeship based at Stonebridge Park power station. He was released at the end of his apprenticeship and went on to work as an electrician at several other workplaces,...
| Institution: | TUC - Trade Union Congress Library |
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| Language: | English |
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London
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/B86016C1-3B6C-4924-9B5E-A0DC5E032E0A http://hdl.handle.net/10796/BBE7D539-3317-4C6D-96B0-D6CE7AC0D8F4 |
| Summary: | 2013
"Bishop, Stan", 2013, HistoryTalk
Stan joined British Rail at the age of 15 in 1957, serving a 5 year engineering apprenticeship based at Stonebridge Park power station. He was released at the end of his apprenticeship and went on to work as an electrician at several other workplaces, including a siren manufacturer based in Stanmore. In 1970 he joined the maintenance department of Central Middlesex Hospital (Park Royal) and stayed there until 1978, when he joined a manufacturers of large industrial gears. He was made redundant in 1983, whereupon he worked in Heathrow for 3 months then a manufacturer of food colourings, based in Hounslow. In 1986 he joined Nestles in Hayes. He worked there until 1995, when he was sacked for producing and distributing leaflets opposing the introduction of multi-skilling at the company.
He was brought up in a Socialist family, his father being a Father of Chapel in the Print union. He joined the AEU union as an apprentice and also recruited his peers to the union. He recollects an unsuccessful attempt to galvanise support for the Clydeside apprentice strikes of the early 60s.He was also a member of ETU (which later merged with the AEU) and NUPE at various stages in his working life. He served as a Shop steward for AEU and later became a Branch Secretary for NUPE. He was a prominent activist throughout the industrial strife of the 1970s, and recalls secondary picketing at the Grunwick dispute and involvement in the Winter of Discontent. He looks back upon this era as the golden days, commenting that its all been downhill ever since Mrs.T came in. In his last job at Nestles he recalls that, although he wasnt a Shop Steward there, he was often brought in to mediate in disciplinary and sacking issues, rather than the senior Shop Steward.
In his clip Stan talks about his involvement in successful action to help nurses and COHSE members who were not given work permits following training.
Click on the pdf icon to read the entire transcript or click on the mp3 icon to hear a clip of the interview. |
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| Physical Description: | Photograph TEXT |