Give Us Work Not Dole: an oral history of the Meccano sit-in

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“Give us work,
not dole”
AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE MECCANO SIT-IN
Greig Campbell

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All rights reserved. This booklet or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without...

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This pamphlet is
dedicated to
the men and women
of toytown and
all those who supported
their struggle

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"These people were my
colleagues. Many of them had
worked all their lives in Meccano
and had been joined by their ow...

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THE OCCUPATION
IN CONTEXT
T
hroughout the 1970s and 1980s, Britain experienced
several economic crises that result...

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A GIANT
WITH FEET
OF CLAY
T
he occupation began on 30 November 1979, as an
immediate response to the news that parent c...

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Incompetence at boardroom level manifested itself in a multi-
tude of failings. On the commercial front, industry expe...

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Meanwhile, a refusal to invest in plant and machinery had left
the Binns Road plant in a state of total disrepair, prom...

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“He came in with one sole aim: that was to close
Meccano down … to try and close it down within
a time frame. From the...

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If you didn’t make cars, you didn’t make money.
Simple as that. So, they didn’t slack in any way,
shape or form. All ...

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PLANT TAKEOVER
In the immediate wake of the announcement, a wave of
despair descended over the women:
“People started...

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clocking-in as usual on Monday morning, a mass meeting
voted to transform the takeover into a permanent occupa-
ti...

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were used. Disrespected … Everybody worked
hard. Every young girl and young lad. It was mis-
managed. They didn’...

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“If any more factories
go on Merseyside,
they may as well bomb
the place.”
FRANK BLOOR

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ANTI-CLOSURE
CAMPAIGN
T
he Committee ran an incredibly proactive defence
campaign, adopting a strategic framewor...

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Airfix management gave no co-operation at all.
We’ve had to pose a number of questions
ourselves. Is this all to do wi...

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workers in Whitehall, an outraged Under-Secretary for In-
dustry asserted, “It would appear that the management had
b...

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AIRFIX
STRIKES BACK
C
ompany chairman Ralph Ehrmann would now
scramble into action. At private talks with Mitchell, he...

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Furious Committee leaders dispelled these perfidious and
potentially harmful accusations in a rebuttal published in T...

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SUPER SELL
CAMPAIGN
F
or the remainder of the occupation, Committee lead-
ers desperately sought third party investmen...

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When the plan fell victim to Liverpool’s fragmented political
landscape, Committee leaders once again turned to the i...

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continued, financial self-interest superseded the abstract
values of fraternal solidarity, kinship and community -
pro...

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THE OCCUPATION
IN RETROSPECT
A
lthough the fight for jobs was halted in March 1980,
the occupation united a regional ...

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Following the permanent closure of the Binns Road plant,
12-year-old John Singo, whose mother was one of the 950
worke...

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1. Local shop steward Ted Mooney has produced a detailed
overview of the aborted sit-in, see Ted Mooney, Workers’ ...

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23. The Times, 6 February 1980.
24. Oral testimony from G. Shepherd, recorded 26 April 2021.
25. The Liverpool E...

“Don't waste any time mourning.
Organise!”
JOE HILL, LABOUR ACTIVIST AND SONGWRITER

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