1979 ITV Strike

This article is written from the Real World point of view.

The 1979 ITV strike was a strike that took place between 10th August 1979 and 24th October 1979. Emmerdale Farm was majorly affected by this, coming off-air for its normal break on 5th July 1979 and not returning until much later on 8th January 1980.

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

Background

The ITV staff unions

For the purposes of negotiation the ITV companies recognized 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, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), 500 ITV members, mainly electricians;
• The National Association of Producers (NAOP); 293 members, mainly Chief, Associate, and Executive producers.
• 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 misjudgment" 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, most ACTT and 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 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 four companies — ATV, Channel, 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. 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.

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.

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 message viewers received when attempting to access the ITV channels during the strike.

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 (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) 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 & Embarrassment

The dispute cost ITV £100m in lost revenue. Many staff members had to take secondary jobs to supplement their income and this led to some strange and embarrassing incidents; one notable incident was an ATV technician working as a waiter and having to serve executives of his own company who were meeting for lunch.

Links

• 'The ITV strike of 1979', ITV News, 9 August 2019