1979 ITV Strike

**1979 ITV Strike** was a dispute over a pay offer which blacked out all television programmes on ITV stations for eleven weeks (or 75 days) from 10 August to 24 October — the longest strike in the history of British television.

The action was backed by all three unions most concerned in the production of programmes: the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT); Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU); and the National Association of Theatrical Television and Kine Employees (NATTKE).

## Background

### The ITV staff unions

For the purposes of negotiation the ITV companies recognised four staff unions representing employees:

* The Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Tech­nicians (ACTT), 3,700 ITV members, including film editors, cameramen and engineers involved in programme production;
* The National Association of Theatrical, Television and Kine Employees (NATTKE), 3,500 ITV members, was often referred to as the craft union, mainly clerical, scene crewmen, and tradesmen;
* The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication and Plumbing Union (EETPU) (formerly ETU), 500 ITV members, mainly electricians;
* The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), 300 ITV members, all journalists.

Unionized staff employed by the IBA and the BBC belonged to the Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs (ABS).

### Pay negotiations

Annual negotiations were two-tier. Collective bargaining on an industry basis was conducted through the companies' Labour Relations Committee. It assumed the role of an Employers' Association, but the national agreements which it negotiated were individual to each company and signed by each individually. They were then supplemented by local agreements negotiated company by company. It was at this second level that union power was brought to bear most heavily, and nationally agreed scales of pay became the point of departure for escalation to higher total remuneration amounting to 20 or 30 per cent, or even more, above the basic rates.

At a time when national negotiations were restricted by government pay policy it was the benefits derived by staff from local deals, particularly in incentive bonuses and increments related to productivity, which gathered momentum. 'Golden hours' were introduced nationally in 1972, ostensibly to protect staff from having to work unsocial hours and to compensate them for 'grief' if required to do so. Formerly those working after midnight could claim three times the normal rate; from 1972 a whole range of penal conditions and punitive rates was agreed, rising to five or six times. If the statutory ten-hour break between shifts was breached, as much as 18 or even 35 times could be contrived in some companies. By manipulating the system to exploit this opportunity for enrichment, small groups of self-rostering workers were able to accumulate small fortunes.

Contrary to reports of vast salaries among techni­cians, the ACTT claimed that an average staff worker in TV earned a basic £7,000 to £8,500 a year. Overtime could increase this considerably, however, and video-tape editors prepared to work through Saturday night received as much as £20,000 a year with the largest com­panies, though this was the exception.

The unions' unremitting pressure on managements continued to keep their members' earnings ahead of inflation until the end of the 1970s. During the year ending April 1979 the retail price index rose by 10.1 per cent, national average earnings by 13.5 per cent, and average earnings across all grades of ACTT, NATTKE and EETPU members by 19.9 per cent. But, a year later, they were back for more.

## 1979 pay demand

The roots of the ITV dispute began in May 1979 when the unions began negotiating pay for the year 1979–80. The ACTT asked for a 25 per cent pay increase, well above the rate of inflation. It based its claim on a simple proposition: the profits of the ITV companies had been going up faster than members' pay. ITV initially offered rises of around 9 per cent for all staff. Potter writes that it was "an expensive misjudgement" for the companies not to have gone above 10 per cent, for the offer was rejected. By 30 June, the existing pay agreement had run out with no sign of any agreement on a new settlement. That was the signal for unions to begin a campaign of selective industrial action and overtime bans designed to maximise disruption while minimising loss of earnings. On 17 July ACTT members voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action in support of a strike.

## 24-hour electricians' strike, 23 July 1979

On 18 July the electricians' union, EETPU, threatened a one-day strike the following Monday. Meanwhile, NATTKE, whose members handled scenery and props in the studios and also manned the switch­boards, planned a work-to-rule from the same date. Management remained resolute and the unions proceeded with their industrial action.

The electricians going on strike had the most immediate and critical effect because they essentially decided whether the various regional stations could get on-air or not. NATTKE's work-to-rule, on the other hand, was more likely to hamper future productions. If some electricians came in then it might have been possible for some stations to show a limited number of pre-recorded items, but Granada Television, for example, said they did not know whether they would even be able to show a card apologizing for the lack of service. Scottish Television, meanwhile, was certain it would not generate any of its own programmes, with only "a slim chance" it would be able to show those from other companies in the network."

In the event, nearly all ITV stations — including STV, Yorkshire, and Grampian — were completely blacked out on Monday 23 July. Services returned to normal the next day.

From the ITV companies' point of view this was in many ways the least damaging time to experience a strike as it was in the middle of the repeats season and fewer pro­grammes were being made in the studios.

However, more trouble lay ahead. On the day of the black-out, the executive of the ACTT met and agreed to plan a series of lightning and, initially, selective strikes, refusing to say when the disruptive campaign would start, or what action would be taken. The ITV companies did not have long to wait, for the first action took place by the end of the week.

On Friday 27 July, London Weekend Television went off the air shortly after 8pm and remained off until the time of close down.

## ITV increases its offer to 15%

At a resumption of pay talks with the EETPU and NATTKE on Friday 27 July, the ITV companies, through the ITCA, increased their original offer to one that was worth 15 per cent, plus 5 per cent fringe benefits. This was the usual kind of compromise, somewhere between the union demands (of 25%) and what the companies had originally offered (9%). In fact, when fringe benefits were taken into account the offer was said to have meant a total of 23 per cent to union members. An equivalent offer was made to the ACTT on the Monday.

Both the EETPU and NATTKE recommended their members to accept the offer, but by the following Friday their membership turned it down. ACTT members followed suit (more than 80 per cent of members rejected the offer) and the unions announced their intention to continue the disruptive action they had already started. Potter argues that had this offer been made originally it would most likely have averted the disruption.

In return, managements warned that anyone not working normally would be suspended without pay. By the beginning of August, EEPTU members were refusing to do "excessive amounts of overtime" and some companies were suspending those employees. Then, ACTT members who had been refusing to co-operate with management who were doing electrical jobs to try and keep the programmes on the air, were also suspended.

## Lightning action

The following week, beginning Monday 6 August, a number of stations were affected by action mainly taken by EETPU members, although most were able to continue transmissions.

The three exceptions were Thames, Southern, and Ulster TV. EETPU members at Thames Television had refused to work normal over­time and the station went off the air at 22:07 on Monday when the electricians chose to kill the lights and go home. Management restored the power but ACTT members refused to use it. On Tuesday morning both the EETPU and ACTT members at Thames were asked if they would work normally. They refused and Thames screens remained blank throughout the day.

Southern Television was also blacked out from 6pm on the Monday, with Ulster joining the strike the next day. HTV was unable to put out its local programmes although it tried to maintain an emergency service.

Grampian Television remained on the air, but on the Tuesday night it was forced to replace its scheduled *Thundercloud* episode at 19:30 with a repeat of *Happy Days*. On the Tuesday (7 August) the ACTT invited the ITV companies to take their present pay dispute to arbitration.

ITV refused and so, After three-quarters of their members were suspended, on Friday 10 August the ACTT called an official strike at 6pm for 24 hours. Before the complete shutdown of the network at 6pm, most regional companies went off the air during the day as the dispute worsened, with only three companies — ATV, Westward, and STV — transmitting a restricted schedule, but the withdrawal of ACTT staff meant a shutdown. With other union members refusing to cross picket lines it was thought impossible to run an emergency service and screens went blank. For the next eleven weeks screens were confined to an apology caption and some music. Grampian had 195 employees — almost half of which, 96 members, were members of ACTT; 40 were in NATKEE; and 8 in EETPU. The remaining quarter of the workforce worked in non-production unions such as NUJ and Equity. At Grampian TV studios in Aberdeen, 144 members of staff (total of the 3 main unions) were now affected. The majority of Grampian's 195 employees were out, including canteen staff, engineers, receptionists, film crew, and journalists. The exception were the television announcers, who were members of Equity, the actors' union. At one stage around 70 pickets were outside its Queen's Cross headquarters. All workers who took part in the stoppage at Grampian were to be suspended without pay for the duration of the dispute and staff were to be locked out if they turned up for work, however the suspension threat was lifted on journalists following a meeting between management and the NUJ a few days later. This affected two local programmes that day — *Superbox* (17:15–17:45) with Gordon Radley and Kathlyn Taylor, and *Grampian Today* (18:00–18:10). The station closed its doors and they were not to be opened again until Wednesday at the very latest. However, the local branch of the ACTT insisted its members were not on strike. Transmission controller, Roy Furness, spokesman for the Grampian ACTT branch, said:

> We were never consulted in respect of the strike effected at 6 pm on Friday, August 10. We repudiate any suggestion that we are on strike. Our members are reporting for duty at their scheduled times, only to find that, de­pending on the whims of the company, they are either locked out or allowed to sit in the reception area. At a meeting on Saturday we considered the situation and we decided we are not on strike. We will continue to turn up. The company insist that we are on strike, but we are hoping for a change in the situation.
>
>

Grampian's Programme Planning Controller, Alastair Beaton, said it was "an astonishing situation" and that the company had not been told of the technicians' decision. Subsequent meetings between management and the union proved fruitless, with Furness of the belief that many hands were being tied by the Independent Television Companies' Association. 17 Aug — NATTKE began balloting its 7,000 mem­bers with a recommendation to support an all-out strike by the following Tuesday (21 August).

## Emergency Service

On 18 August 2023, Joel Cadbury went into Westward's facilities (within Plymouth, England) without telling his father Peter and started transmitting an (regional) emergency service for Westward's regional area; their friends Channel Television had done the same thing. All Taylorfilms staff manned the cameras, switchboards, and local productions, while some announcers from the company (Roger Shaw, Fern Britton, Ian Stirling, Jennifer Clulow, Kenneth MacLeod, Reggie Bosanquet, David Rodgers, Ruth Langsford) worked on continuity and regional news.

## Lock-out

The lock out threat by ITV management had twice been postponed but on Wednesday 22 August, when NATTKE and EEPTU staff arrived at studios up and down the country, they were told there was no work for them. The lockout particularly upset NATTKE members who had been working normally during most of the dispute. At Grampian TV studios in Aberdeen, 144 members of staff were now affected — about 100 of them ACTT and the rest members of NATTKE and the EEPTU. Staff working for the other three unions in ITV — the National Union of Journalists, the Musicians' Union, and the Writers' Guild — were not locked out, but in many cases there was no studio work for them, or they had been advised by management not to cross ACTT picket lines and worsen union relations. A week later, and With talks at a stalemate, Grampian's 96 ACTT members voted for strike action on 30 August 1979. Colin Robertson, ACTT secretary at Grampian, said:

> Our members are fed up. We want to work. We’ve acted the gentlemen for long enough in this dispute. We've taken the gloves off and are going to get into the fight.
>
>

Nonetheless, their action effectively freed members from turning up at the studios every day only to be locked out, allowing them to look for temporary jobs elsewhere to earn money during the dispute. A Grampian spokesman said the last official communication they had from the union had been at the beginning of the national strike on August 10, and as far as they were concerned there had been a strike since that date, no matter what union members claimed locally. The local ACTT members continued to maintain that they had merely been suspended until now.

## Effects on STV

The IBA, which was duty-bound to transmit an ITV service (if available), remained somewhat detached and unwilling to intervene. The Authority and managements could have transmitted a non-union service, but fears of a poisoned relationship with the unions and a collision with its own ABS staff and the Post Office engineers mitigated against this.

The strike disrupted STV's new network drama serial, *Charles Endell Esquire*, after just two episodes. And work on the musical, *Remember Jack Buchanan* was halted. STV's headquarters became like a ghost station, with management like Head of News and Current Affairs, Russell Galbraith, manning the reception desk and telling callers they would get the news in the press or from BBC. As it went on it disrupted the start of the Autumn schedules on 10 September.

## Two-year pay deal offered — and rejected

Six weeks into the dispute, and a few weeks after what should have been the start of ITV's lucrative autumn schedule, management put a 'final' pay offer on the table at a meeting on Friday 21 September. It comprised their original 15 per cent offer backdated to July, another 5 per cent the following July, and two cost-of-living increases in January 1980 and January 1981. All in all, it was said to be worth 39.5 per cent over two years. In return, the unions would have to accept the introduction of new technology, namely ENG (electronic news gathering). The ACTT's general secretary, Alan Sapper, was unimpressed. Paul Fox, a member of the ITV negotiating team and managing director of Yorkshire Television, warned that if the strike was not settled soon then management could themselves transmit the new autumn programmes as part of an emergency service. The three unions refused to make a recommendation on the offer, but said they would put it to their membership in a national ballot. It was reported that both the other unions concerned would have accepted an offer less advantageous than the one on the table, but had been keen to maintain a common front throughout. If the ACTT had accepted the new offer there seemed little doubt the others would have followed suit. A few days later the ACTT decided to recommend its members vote against the deal after all. It believed the offer was still "not substantial enough" and the cost-of-living provisions were unsatisfactory. The two other unions put the offer to their members without any recommendations. When the results came in a few days later they should a resounding rejection of the deal among members. STV members, for example, rejected the offer 124–15. Grampian members voted 51–7 against. The situation now looked grim. With no prospect of a deal and, if anything, the gap between the two sides widening, there were predictions that if the dispute was not settled in the next three weeks, ITV could be off the air until January 1980.

## Agreement

The ACTT put in a claim which doubled its original demand. It was now asking for an immediate pay rise of 30 per cent, backdated to July, with cost-of-living increases of 1 per cent per point rise next January and next July. The ITV companies said it was an "unrealistic demand" and that such a deal could mean 50 per cent increases in a year.

A major breakthrough in the talks came on Thursday 11 October 1979, when NATTKE settled for a package amounting to a 26.3 per cent pay rise over one year. The electricians union, EEPTU, who were involved in joint negotiations with NATTKE, also reached a settlement. Their members would go on to vote heavily in favour.

This put pressure on the ACTT who were negotiating with ITV around the same time. The following day, Friday, a new pay deal was worked out, worth between 40 and 45 per cent over two years, dependent on the increase in the cost of living. Meanwhile, on ENG, the new equipment could be introduced, but without redundancies. Alan Sapper, general secretary of the ACTT, said the offer would be put to his members. "We have agreed not to recommend a rejection," he added.

On Friday 19 October television technicians nationally voted four to one in favour of the new pay deal. At STV it was 132–15 in favour; at Grampian Television 43–17 in a 65% poll. Out of 12 ACTT groups, only one voted against — Border Television, where members rejected the deal by 32 votes to 25.

Sapper said the offer had shown "how far the ITV companies have crumbled. They set up this dispute to try to smash the union, and they've failed — that’s why it's a victory for the union," he said. Indeed, the companies not yet got the quid pro quo they were looking for — a blanket agreement on the introduction of new technology and the start of ENG by Christmas. Further negotiations were scheduled to take place.

## Return to air

The network returned to some semblance of normality on the evening of Wednesday 24 October 1979 when a national 'ITV'-branded emergency service was provided by Thames Television in London until the regional stations could get back to full strength. The first programme was the ITN news at 17:45. "It's nice to be back," said Leonard Parkin introducing the bulletin. "Now let's get on with it."

STV did its own presentation that evening rather than taking the national service. Chief Announcer Tony Currie did the usual start-up at 17:40 before the ITN *News at 5.45* and, during the evening, the station had local commercials and voiceover slides. Currie did an in-vision closedown after the film *Chinatown*. Most regions were able to get their regional news programmes back the following night, including STV with *Scotland Today*.

The new autumn schedules began the following Monday — a month and a half later than originally planned.

## Costs

The dispute cost ITV £100m in lost revenue.

## References

1. ↑ Jeremy Potter, *Independent Television in Britain: Volume 4*, 23.
2. ↑ According to the ACTT's own calculations, ITV profits had risen 189 per cent since 1975, while the average pay among union members had gone up by just 46 per cent. However, as analysis by *The Stage and Television Today* showed, these figures were misleading. The base year taken for the calculation, 1975, was one in which the ITV companies had an artificially low profit because of the three-day week and other industrial considerations. Furthermore, the pre-tax profit figure was not the amount left to the companies for paying dividends to their shareholders. Once Corporation Tax had been paid on the amount left after collection of the Exchequer Levy, the net profit was considerably smaller — £22 million to be precise, or just over 6 per cent of turnover. The Government. therefore, in one way or another took about 82–84 per cent of the companies' gross profit for itself. See: 'The ITV money game no easy game to play', *The Stage and Television Today*, 11 October 1979, 14.
3. ↑ 'Total black-out likely on ITV', *Glasgow Herald*, 23 July 1979, 1.
4. ↑ 'TV blackout lifted', *Glasgow Herald*, 24 July 1979, 1.
5. ↑ 'Grampian TV switched off', *Evening Express*, 23 July 1979, 1.
6. ↑ The exceptions were Westward Television, whose NATTKE members decided to remain at work, and Channel, which was linked to Westward and which was not tied to normal union agreements. Both put out a limited service with consider­able changes to the advertised pro­grammes. See: 'Back for the time bring', *The Stage and Television Today*, 26 July 1979, 15.
7. ↑ Southern came back on air at 7pm on the Tuesday.
8. ↑ 'ITV face national blackout threat', *Press and Journal*, 8 August 1979, 7.
9. ↑ 'ACTT invites the companies to arbitration', *The Stage and Television Today*, 9 August 1979, 15.
10. ↑ *The ITV strike of 1979 | ITV News*, retrieved 2023-07-20
11. ↑ The only exceptions were Westward Television (whose unions members were granted exceptions and they decided to remain at work), Lagan Television, and Channel Television (which was both linked to Westward and was not tied to normal union agreements). Both companies would put out a limited service with consider­able changes to the advertised pro­grammes during the strike.
12. ↑ 'ITV stations shut down: Grampian close their doors', *Press and Journal*, 11 August 1979, 1.
13. ↑ 'Grampian screens blank in TV dispute', *Evening Express*, 10 August 1979, 1. Senior engineer Tom Mowat; and Roy Furness, transmission controller, both ACTT.
14. ↑ 'We're not on strike, say Grampian TV ACTT men', *Press and Journal*, 13 August 1979, 1.
15. ↑ 'Grampian blackout peace move fails', *Evening Times*, 13 August 1979, 1.
16. ↑ 'TV strike may grow', *Glasgow Herald*, 17 August 1979, 1.
17. ↑ "Westward operates emergency (regional) service during national technicians strike", *The Guardian*, 19 August 1979, p.1-3
18. ↑ 'Grampian staff shut out as dispute grows', *Evening Times*, 22 August 1979, 11.
19. ↑ 'Rift deepens between ITV and unions', *Press and Journal*, 23 August 1979, 13.
20. ↑ 'Grampian dispute hardens as union strikes', *Evening Express*, 30 August 1979, 1.
21. ↑ ''No change' at GTV as technicians strike', *Press and Journal*, 31 August 1979, 12.
22. ↑ 'Switch-on threat by ITV chiefs', *Glasgow Herald*, 24 September 1979, 1.
23. ↑ 'Flexibility will resolve the long ITV strike', *The Stage and Television Today*, 27 September 1979, 17.
24. ↑ 'ITV peace hopes dashed', *Glasgow Herald*, 28 September 1979, 1.
25. ↑ 'ITV chiefs reject back-pay demand', *Glasgow Herald*, 3 October 1979, 9.
26. ↑ 'Historic Mod 'first' is casualty...', *Press and Journal*, 4 October 1979, 15.
27. ↑ 'Snag in TV talks', *Glasgow Herald*, 9 October 1979, 2.
28. ↑ 'ITV picture brightens', *Press and Journal*, 12 October 1979.
29. ↑ Ronnie Carrington, chief negotiator for the ITV companies, said that initially the new offer would be worth 17.5 per cent, backdated to July. There would be a further 71 per cent increase on January 1 and another 15 per cent for ITV staff the following July. He estimated that the deal could add up to between 40 and 45 per over the two years, taking the average earnings of ITV technicians from £8,000 a year to £11,500 over that period. See: '40% deal may put ITV back on screen', *Glasgow Herald*, 13 October 1979, 1.
30. ↑ 'ITV back but there's a local ATV dispute', *The Stage and Television Today*, 25 October 1979, 25.
31. ↑ 'Nice to be back', *Glasgow Herald*, 25 October 1979, 1.
32. ↑ *ITV returns after the 1979 strike*, retrieved 2023-07-20
33. ↑ 'Back with the old favourites', *Glasgow Herald*, 24 October 1979, 6.